Mother Lives With Children's Decomposing Bodies In Apartment For Days

An Indian mother was found living with the decomposing bodies of her adult children inside an apartment in Kolkata, in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. Cops suspect the daughter, aged 30, may have died four days prior to the discovery on Tuesday while the 20-year-old son may have died the day before.

The 51-year-old mother, Mala Konch, was living with her two children in an eight-floor apartment in the New Town area of Kolkata. The family had moved into the apartment in 2020 and mostly remained aloof, The Times of India reported. Mala had lost her husband, and neither the mother nor the children had jobs.

Residents said they had been noticing something strange about their behavior since March 2021. They had also reportedly stopped paying rent for the apartment at some point.

The deaths came to light after one of the neighbors raised an alarm after noticing a foul smell coming from Mala’s apartment.

“We were alerted by a foul smell on Tuesday morning. When we stepped out, we saw the woman was outside her home. When we tried to ask her, she refused to talk and shut the door. We informed the building office-bearers and cops about the matter,” the neighbor said, according to the outlet.

Mala tried to lock her house and leave when the cops arrived, refused to talk to them and walked towards the elevator but dropped her keys. Cops eventually managed to enter the house and discovered the children's partially decomposed bodies lying in bed in one of the rooms. While the son was covered with a blanket, the daughter was wearing little clothing.

The daughter’s body was bloated and cops suspect the deaths may have been caused by a drug overdose. “We will wait for an expert's opinion before coming to a conclusion,” an officer was quoted saying.

Cops said Mala appeared mentally unstable and spoke incoherently. She was taken to a hospital following the discovery of her deceased children.

“We will question her again to find out more details about the deaths,” an officer said, according to Telegraph Online.

One neighbor said Mala had approached them and the security guards for help on at least two different occasions in the days prior to the discovery. He said the mother yelled “help help” before running back into her apartment and locking the door.

“We had even drafted a letter to submit it to the local police station to look into the matter,” the neighbor told the outlet. “But before we could do that, this incident took place. They had moved into the flat around a year back. They rarely interacted with us.”

The bodies were sent for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.