Varanasi: Kin preserves mom's body for pension

Lucknow: The children of a 70-year-old woman have preserved  her body for almost five months after her death because they wanted to draw her pension. The matter came to light after an anonymous caller tipped off the police. Circle officer, Bhelupur, AP Singh said that a resident of the area informed the police on Dial 100 that Amravati Devi had died on January 13 this year but her family concealed her death from relatives and neighbours. The police, which  found the body at home, arrested three of her sons and sent the body for post-mortem. 

According to reports, Amravati Devi had been getting Rs 13,000 as pension after her husband Daya Prasad died a few years ago.  The woman had five sons and a daughter. Her sons Ravi Prakash, Lalle Prakash, Tinu and Girish, and daughter Vijay Laxmi used to live with her while the fifth son, Jyoti Prakash, used to live separately. Amravati was admitted at Sir Sundarlal Hospital after she fell ill in January. When her condition did not improve, the family brought her home where she died on January 13. 

Initially, the family announced her death but later one of her sons claimed he had seen movement in her hand. The family later claimed that she was in coma. Her son Ravi Prakash told the police that their mother was in coma and they used to feed her medicines and milk daily.  A police officer said five blank cheques signed by Amravati Devi were recovered from the house during investigation.

The sons would apply chemicals and burnt ‘loban’ (gum benzoin) in the house to conceal the foul odour, the police said. A local physican said the family used to apply chemicals in order to prevent decomposition of the body which had developed red and black patches. The circle officer said the exact cause of the death would be clear after the post-mortem. “We are waiting for the autopsy report after which a case will be registered under relevant sections,” he said.