Transferring money from India

My father (Indian resident) passed away last year and left us some money. We have the money in a bank in India. I am a US citizen and I have never worked in India. We were told my the bank manager that we should not transfer any of this money to the US as unless since we do not have a valid source of income in india and pay taxes on it. Is this true? What’s the most economic and lawful way to transfer the money over? Are there any taxes we will need to pay?