KOLKATA, India -- Indian police have arrested a 46-year-old man for allegedly keeping his mother's body in a freezer for almost three years while collecting her monthly pension payments.

Police officer Nilanjan Biswas says Subhabrata Majumdar was arrested after his mother's body was found in the large freezer during a Thursday police raid on their home in the city of Kolkata.

Biswas says Majumdar had hidden his mother's body after she died three years ago, at age 81, and continued withdrawing her monthly retirement pension of 30,000 rupees, about $460.

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Biswas says Majumdar told police that he kept her mother's body because he believed she could be brought back to life.

Police also questioned his 90-year-old father, who lived in the same house, but did not arrest him because of his poor health.