The police on Friday recovered a decomposed body of an elderly woman from a house in Budge Budge area of South 24 Parganas district.
Police reached the spot after neighbours complained of a foul smell emanating from the building in the southern fringes of Kolkata.
They broke open the door, found the decomposed body and sent it for post-mortem examination.
According to neighbours, the 65-year-old widow, who used to stay alone, went into depression after her son went missing four years ago.
She is survived by a daughter, who lives elsewhere.