Mumbai: Senior citizen living alone found dead in Santacruz flat

In the city that never sleeps, the death of a senior citizen went unnoticed, until neighbours, irritated by a foul smell emanating from her flat, ultimately contacted her caretaker. The octogenarian's highly decomposed body was found in her ground floor flat at Bussa Apartments, Khira Nagar, in Santacruz on Thursday.

Police said after the unbearable smell emanated from her flat for three to four days, neighbours contacted her caretaker, who arrived with keys. They said he opened the door to the flat of Besil Hellen Rodericks, 87, and saw her fallen on the floor. Neighbours informed the police control room.

Rodericks was unmarried and lived alone in the flat, said a police officer. "A caretaker, Khalid, would bring in ready to eat material and fruits for her. I never saw her cooking," said the watchman of the building, Dharmaraj. A neighbour said Rodericks was partially blind and had become extremely feeble due to age. Neighbours said she was very reserved.

The police have registered an accidental death case in the matter. Senior Inspector Sriram Koregaonkar ruled out any foul play and said, "Prima facie it seems that she might have lost her balance while walking in her flat and was injured, which lead to her death." A post mortem was conducted at Cooper Hospital on Friday and doctors have preserved her viscera samples for chemical analysis. Later the police said nothing suspicious was found in the post-mortem.

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