'Did not want to part with her': Son puts dead mother in plastic barrel, fills it up with cement

The 86-year-old K Shenbagam resident of Neelankarai of Chennai was ill for the past few years.

Chennai(Tamil Nadu): A 53-year-old man allegedly kept the body of his dead mother in a plastic barrel and poured cement into it so that she "remained with him forever".

86-year-old K Shenbagam, a resident of Neelankarai of Chennai was ill for the past few years. She was staying with her second son Suresh since his wife had left him years ago. Suresh is mentally unstable and as a result his wife and children are living separately. After Shenbagam was not seen for the past few days, the neighbours informed Suresh's wife who in turn called his brother and informed him of the same.

When Babu asked his brother about their mother, he did not respond properly. On Monday, Suresh stopped Babu when he reached home to enquire about the mother. Following this, Babu immediately informed the Neelankarai police. Based on the information received, the police arrived at the scene and questioned Suresh.

During the interrogation, Suresh said that his mother had died a two weeks back due to ill health. He said to police that his financial condition was not well and he did not want to part with his mother that is why he put her in a plastic barrel at home and filled it up with cement. "He said he wanted her to be with him forever," police said.

Police broke open the barrel and recovered Shenbagam's body. They sent the body to Government Royapettah Hospital for post-mortem. Police said prime facie she might have died of ill health since there were no struggle marks found on her body. Neelankarai police registered a case under Section 174 of CrPC and are enquiring Suresh for further details. Also, the body was handed over to the family for proper funeral.