Man mummifies mum to draw pension

In a gruesome incident of mummifying, which even surpasses the Robinson Street incident, the body of an 87-year-old had been preserved by her son for nearly three years in the Behala area of south west Kolkata.

Bina Majumder, a former employee of Food Corporation of India, died on April 7, 2015 following multiple organ failure. Her son, 46-year-old Subhabrata Majumder, a meritorious student of Leather Technology, however, preserved Bina's body in a freezer using chemicals thereafter. "At the time, he had told us that his mother's body had been kept at Peace Haven," said a neighbour.

Officials at Behala police station discovered the body by acting on specific information by some of the neighbours. "There were complaints that even if no one was present at the place, the two air-conditioners were always running and that all the doors and windows were shut. Subhabrata's father Gopal had explained it away by saying his son works with leather," said an official of Behala station, adding, "During our search, Subhabrata was hesitant about opening the door on the ground floor, but when he had to, under pressure, we found a freezer and a coffin there."

Prima facie, Subhabrata had confessed that he did it because he believed his mother would be brought back to life one day. However, it has also surfaced that Subhabrata kept withdrawing his mother's monthly pension of Rs 50,000 by using her debit card, but how he procured a life certificate of his mother is still being investigated.

It is also believed that the second freezer was a stand-by in case the first one went out of order.

On June 11, 2015, Partha De, a 44-year-old person was found to have kept the bodies of his sister and two pet dogs inside the apartment on 3 Robinson Street, off Park Street, for six months and had been living with them.