Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Over six years ago in Vidya Nagar, a horrifying discovery shocked the city and left investigators baffled. The mummified body of a 60-year-old woman, Vimla Srivastava, was found hidden inside a wooden diwan in a flat she once owned.
What makes this case particularly disturbing is that the body remained unnoticed for months and to this day, the prime suspect, her own son Amit Srivastava, is missing.
It all began on February 4, 2019, when Ramveer Singh, who had purchased the BDA LIG flat 5/24 from Vimla eight months earlier, hired workers to clean the property.
During cleaning, labourers opened a diwan and made a gruesome discovery a body tightly wrapped in blankets and mattresses, concealed beneath a pile of old clothes and sealed with a plywood board. Singh immediately alerted the Bag Sewania police, who arrived at the scene led by then SDOP Dinesh Agarwal, accompanied by a forensic team.
What they found was shocking: a body in a fully mummified state. The skin had completely dried up and clung tightly to the bones. A few strands of hair on the scalp suggested the body belonged to a woman. Even more baffling, neighbours told police they had not seen Vimla or her son Amit in over six months but none of them had ever reported a foul smell from the flat.
This was likely due to several bottles of room fresheners found scattered around the apartment, which police suspect Amit used to cover up the odour of decomposition. The next day, Vimla's nephew Surendra Srivastava came from Gwalior and confirmed the body was that of his aunt. Vimla had moved to Bhopal in 2003 after the death of her husband, taking up a job as a clerk in the transport department.
She had lived alone with her son Amit, who was unemployed and struggling with addiction to bhang. One of her daughters had died years earlier, and her relationship with Amit had reportedly grown strained. Police found that the body had been placed on a cotton-filled mattress and covered with no less than eleven blankets and quilts.
The surrounding space was jammed with old clothes, all of which were stuffed into the diwan and sealed off. The flat itself was found in an unhygienic condition. Among the strange items found inside were milk packets printed with a manufacturing date of August 2028ólikely an error, but another bizarre detail in a case already full of oddities.
Post-mortem adds to mystery
The post-mortem report only deepened the mystery. Doctors couldnít determine the cause of death. There were no signs of assault, no fractures, and no flesh left for analysis.
The estimated time of death was placed between four and five months prior to the discovery. DNA and viscera samples were preserved for further examination, but without solid leads or forensic breakthroughs, police were left in the dark.
Suspicion on son
Suspicion soon fell on Amit. Neighbours described him as a loner who never allowed anyone to visit or speak to his mother. He was reportedly abusive, addicted to substances, and lived in squalor.
Investigators later found that Amit had continued to withdraw money from Vimla's bank account even after her death, suggesting a deliberate attempt to hide the crime and exploit her finances.
Despite this damning trail, Amit vanished. He was last seen about four months before the body was found, and since then, has evaded all police efforts to track him down. His disappearance, combined with the lack of conclusive evidence, has left the case in limbo.
