7-yr-old boy starves to death, mother stays with body for 3 days

On Monday morning, the police control room received a call from a woman from Tirunindravur who said her son starved to death three days ago. The information was passed on to the local police station and Inspector Gunasekaran and team rushed to the house.

When the woman opened the doors, a foul smell emanated from inside and police were shocked to find the decomposed body of her seven-year-old boy. The body was retrieved and sent for post-mortem.

Investigation revealed that the woman, identified as Saraswathi alias Revathi, separated from her husband seven years ago and lived with her son Samuel in her house on the second floor of a building on CTH Road, while her relatives live downstairs.

Saraswathi is said to have practised homoeopathy for a living, but could not earn enough to take care of her son, and the lockdown made it worse for her. However, she did not want to seek help from others and stayed indoors with her son for days together without food.

“Her son died three days ago and she just kept wiping his body so that it does not attract ants. The neighbours felt the foul odour and tried to inquire with her and that is when she decided to call the police control room,” said Inspector Gunasekaran. The officer said the post-mortem report too finds nothing suspicious in the death.

A case has been registered and further investigation is on. Police have decided to give the woman counselling as she appears mentally disturbed. However, it is not the first time that the woman has made her son starve along with her. Six months ago, Saraswathi and Samuel were rescued from the house in an unconscious manner and her relatives spent about Rs 1.5 lakh for their medical expenses, said police.

Only a week ago this paper had reported a similar case of an 80-year-old man who spent a week with the body of his deceased wife in Kodungayur.