Lucknow, May 20 (IANS): Her daughter lived with her body for almost ten days in an adjoining room but did not inform anyone of her mother's death.

The old body of a retired HAL engineer, Sunita Dixit, was finally recovered from a room of her house in Indira Nagar when neighbours reported foul smell.

Her daughter Ankita Dixit, 26, was found inside another room of the house. The police suspect her to be either in a traumatic state or mentally unsound.

Additional DCP, North Zone, Prachi Singh said, "When the cops entered the open space in the house, they heard a woman's voice and knocked on the doors, but the woman did not agree to open it. Following this, a carpenter was summoned to break open the door. The cops were stunned to find a girl who looked frazzled inside one room. The girl could not talk much about what was inside or the source of the bad smell emanating from a closed room. That room's doors were broken, and Sunita was found dead."

The ADCP said that the body seemed ten days old.

"We have sent the body for a post-mortem, on the basis of which, further action will be taken. The cause of death is still not known," she said.

Police also said that Sunita had got divorced from her husband Rajnish Dixit who worked at the secretariat in 1999.