A 32-year-old woman kept her mother’s body for around seven days at home till Sunday when one of their relatives who stays next door informed the police who recovered the decomposed body.

In August last year, the woman, Anindita Karmakar, and her mother Anjali had kept her father Ajit’s body at the same house in Collegepara, a locality in ward 21 of Jalpaiguri, for five-six days till the police arrived.

Amit Karmakar, Anindita’s cousin and neighbour, said a similar incident happened a year later.

The cousin recalled that on August 19 last year, when neighbours complained of stench, the elderly Anjali informed them that Ajit had died but their daughter Anindita was not ready to cremate the body. Kotwali police had to take away Ajit’s decomposed body.

He said this time, he could not recall seeing his aunt Anjali for some days. “This morning (Sunday), we again smelt a stench. It was found that my aunt had died a week back and my cousin kept her body in the washroom instead of doing her last rites,” said Amit. “Again, the police took away my aunt’s body.”

Councillor Taraknath Das said Anindita and Anjali had received psychiatric counselling last year.

S.S. Choudhury, a psychiatrist at the Jalpaiguri district hospital, said Anindita needed treatment.