Three siblings in the age group of 30 to 42 years were rescued from a room in which they had allegedly locked themselves up for nearly a decade in Rajkot on December 27 by a local NGO with the help of their father.
Members of Saathi Seva Group, the NGO that works for homeless people, broke open the doors to see them lying like skeletons.
“The siblings. Amrish, Bhavesh and Meghna, had locked themselves up in the room for nearly a decade, since the death of their mother,” said Jalpa Patel of the NGO.
“It was appalling to see them in that condition. The room was stinking with human faeces, stale food and scattered papers. They were lying in the room as if they were skeletons,” she stated.
Both Amrish and Bhavesh did not have their hair cut. Their beards had grown almost up to their waist. After bringing them out of the house, the volunteers brought a barber to shave their beards and hair and they were bathed and given new clothes.
None had any clothes except some towels wrapped around them.
Father a retired govt employee
Their father, Navin Mehta, is a retired government employee. He said he used to get food parcels and leave them outside the door.
According to him, his children are well educated. “My eldest son, Amrish, 42, was a practising lawyer with BA, LLB degrees, while Meghna, 39, is an MA in Psychology. My youngest son is BA in Economics and was also a promising cricket player,” he said.
“My wife started keeping ill and she died five-six years later, which affected my children deeply, following which they locked themselves up,” he said,
He added that neighbours and some relatives had told him that his children were victims of some black magic performed on them by relatives.
