Police on Tuesday recovered the body a 92-year-old widow, who allegedly died of starvation, from her residence in Sector 26 in Noida. She was staying with her 67-year-old son, Suraj Joshi, who is mentally unstable. Police said the nonagenarian, Vimla Devi, had died three days ago, but her son didn’t inform anybody.
Neighbours called the police after they found foul smell emanating from house. “Ambulance was called up but Suraj, who is also malnourished, refused to let the medical team enter his house. Then police had to convince him to allow entry so that her mother could be shifted to hospital,” said a senior police officer.
The mother-son were had not been eating anything for a long time. “Doctors opine that Vimla Devi had died three days ago,” said the police officer.While Vimla’s body was being shifted to ambulance, Suraj started shouting that his mother was alive and was just asleep. “Vimla died due to malnutrition. And Suraj needs medical attention,” the police officer quoted a doctor.
Suraj told the media: “We don’t eat or cook anything. We just take some juices and milk.” Meanwhile, Suraj’s relatives alleged that he was not mentally unstable, and insulted anybody who offered them food. “Suraj is a mechanical engineer (gold medalist) from Kurukshetra University. He was with ONGC. He was married to Nalani Joshi in 1984. later they separated. Suraj then started living with his mother,” said Tejaswi Kumar Sharma, cousin of Suraj. Suraj’s wife, Nalani, stays with her adopted daughter in Gurgaon. Nalani is a retired schoolteacher.