Belgrade, April 14 (Inditop) Serbian police have arrested a man who kept his dead father in his home to continue collecting his retirement pension, Belgrade newspapers said Tuesday.

The 70-year-old man died up to 18 months ago, the reports said.

The son meanwhile collected pension cheques, filing a missing person report only recently when bank officials demanded to see the old man.

Police in the mining town of Bor, 200 km east of Belgrade, became suspicious when it became apparent that nobody had seen the father for more than a year and a half.

When police broke into the apartment, it found a decomposed corpse on a bed, under an open window which nevertheless failed to vent the stench, reports said.

An autopsy will be carried out to reveal whether the old man died of natural causes or was murdered.