Mumbai man returns home from US only to find skeleton of mom

In a shocking incident that raises the larger issue of well-being, safety and security of senior citizens staying alone, an IT professional returned from the United States only to find the skeleton of his mother at his Mumbai home.

The victim, Asha Sahani, 63, had been living alone in her flat on the 10th floor of Bellscot Tower in the Lokhandwala area of Andheri West. Her husband, Kedar Sahani, died in 2013, and then she had asked her son, who had moved to the US in 1997, to put her in an elderly-care home. However, she stayed in the flat.

On Sunday, Rituraj Sahani (43) - who incidentally had not spoken to his mother for nearly a year - came home on Sunday, only to find the skeletal remains of his mother in the locked flat.

"The lady has been staying alone in the flat," said senior police inspector Subhash Khanvilkar of Oshiwara police station, which is investigating the case.

"When the son arrived from the US, he first rang the bell of the flat where his mother used to stay alone. After getting no response for quite some time, he decided to bring in a duplicate key-maker and open the door," a police official said. Upon entering one of the rooms, he saw the skeletal remains of his mother.

The body has been sent for post-mortem to the Cooper Hospital.  The clothes on her body were intact but her body has completely decayed. The cause of the death is not known.

From initial investigations, it was revealed that there was no attempt of robbery. The neighbours, whom police spoke to, said that they did not smell any stench coming out from the flat.