A neighbor, Dinesh Kumar Sahu, said, “An intolerable stench was emanating from her house for the last three-four days. As she has two pet dogs, we thought that one of the dogs might have died. Since she is mentally disturbed and does not socialize with the neighbours, we did not try to find out what had happened in the house on Sunday and actually came inside the house to find that Shinu had died.” While Shinu, who worked in Mumbai, lived with her for about a year, her other son lives in the United Arab Emirates.
A police officer who led the team home after being alerted by the milk said the woman appeared mentally disturbed.
Footage from the scene showed a sewer worker spraying disinfectant on Shinu’s deteriorating body, with a book resting on his chest.
Informed sources claimed that Mariyam Verghese, in the belief that heavenly intervention would restore life, had kept a holy book on the chest of the body.
Vidisha District Superintendent of Police Rohit Kashwani said: “The body has been sent for autopsy and histopathological analysis. Only on the basis of the findings, will we be able to determine how old the body is and what caused the death of the middle-aged man.”
