Nearly two years after Kolkata woke up to the horror of the Robinson Street skeletons case, a similar incident was reported at Jamalpur in East Burdwan on Sunday.
A mother has kept the dead body of her son with her for the last two days. The incident took place at Kazi Para area under Jamalpur II panchayat. Police said that the woman's husband, Anil Bhandari, died about six years ago and since then she had been living in the house with her son and a daughter.
One day, local residents heard the family members screaming inside the house. When some of them approached the house on Sunday morning, they could smell a pungent odour in the vicinity of the building.
Locals told the police that the deceased, Chandan Bhandari, preferred to remain inside his house since his father died. According to the locals Chandan, who had previously been a healthy young man, had become very thin in the past two years.
They also told the police that he used to indulge in black magic and some sadhus used to frequent the house.
The locals found that Chandan's mother had been keeping her son's decomposed body in her room. Subsequently, they informed the matter to the local police station. Police reached the spot, recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem.
According to the preliminary investigation, police suspect that Chandan had died two days ago. The incident triggered tension in the locality with villagers visiting the house to find out how a woman could spend two days with the corpse of her dead son. Police have started a detailed probe into the matter and are probing if the death was caused by foul play.
The police are yet to ascertain the exact cause of death. They will, however, interrogate the sadhus who used to visit the house to practice black magic. Police are also interrogating the mother and the sister of the deceased. Authorities have started a case of unnatural death.
The incident once again reminded the public of the horrific episode in which skeletal remains of Denjani Dey and a dog were recovered by police from a Robinson Street house where the younger brother of the deceased, Partha Dey, had been living with the corpses for more than six months. The incident had created a sensation across the state when it came to light.