The person living opposite the ‘empty’ house first heard the girl crying in the morning.

NEW DELHI: The horror of house no. 25/26 in Ganesh Nagar, east Delhi (address incomplete to protect identity) began to sink in as cops broke open the door on Saturday night.

The stench of rotting garbage, piled up to four feet high, hit them as they entered the two-room flat. Garbage was everywhere and there was no space to walk. Inside, the only electrical appliance in working condition was a table fan.

On a stinking bed next to the fan lay a 17-year-old, mentally-ill girl who had been kept captive in the flat for at least a year. She was in a bad shape, disoriented and hadn't bathed for a long time.

The "rescue" was mounted after residents alerted the beat staff. They had often heard a girl sobbing from inside the house in the Mandawali locality.

The girl's mother, Suchitra Sanyal (all names changed), who lives close by with another daughter, came to the house twice a day to give the girl food, residents said. She would get water only once a day, along with sleeping pills to put her off to sleep, they alleged.

Suchitra and her ex-husband Digvijay divorced in 2011. Her case for maintenance is pending in the Karkardooma courts since then.

The girl, who has studied up to Class X, was last seen a couple of years ago. "I saw the girl two years ago while she was still attending school. After that day, I only saw her yesterday," said a neighbor.

It was two years ago when Suchitra shifted to this house after selling off another one a few streets away. She had kicked out her husband and had barred him from having any contact with their daughters.

Speaking to TOI, the father, Digvijay Sanyal, said he was not allowed to even speak to his daughters after the couple separated. "I called up Suchitra several times but she hardly ever took my calls. She knew that all I would demand was to meet my daughters - to which she could never agree. I even wrote many letters to them, but never got a response," he said.

"The person who lives opposite the Sanyal's 'empty' house first heard the girl crying during the wee hours. The next morning, he came and told me about it. That day, I stayed in my shop till late, only to see if I could hear someone crying as well. It didn't take me long to discover where the voice was coming from," said Sushil Sarkar, whose shop is very close to the house.

He said he confronted Suchitra the next morning at 9am, when she came to feed the girl but to his surprise, he was offered money to shut his mouth.

"I told her that I know her younger daughter was confined inside the house but she insisted that wasn't the case. She said she came there twice a day only to clean the house. This seemed bizarre as she never carried a garbage bag with her, Sarkar said.

"When I cornered her on this point, on the garbage, she had no answer. She instead took out cash from her wallet and asked me not to inform the cops about anything. It was then that I made up my mind and told the beat officer everything," he added.

Police said that the beat officer along with a team, on Saturday night, raided the house and found the girl inside. "Her condition was poor as she had not bathed for quite some time. She was immediately taken to hospital for treatment," said a senior police officer.

Locals who went inside the house when cops rescued the girl said that they could barely walk inside the house as it was filled with garbage.

"Even when the cops went to rescue the girl, her mother and sister kept arguing with them, trying to convince them that none of it was their fault," said Kavita, a resident from the area.

In one of the videos that was shot by one of the locals there, Suchitra's elder daughter is seen telling the cops that the house was 'slightly' dirty because her mother was unwell due to which she could not clean the house.

Police said Suchitra's elder daughter was the sole earning member of the family. She works in a private company. Suchitra had filed a case of maintenance against her husband in 2011 in the Karkardooma Court , which is pending.

The victim has been admitted at Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital . Her custody has been handed over to the child welfare committee.

"The girl said she had locked herself in the flat as she was not willing to go outside the flat on her own. She seems to be under depression," said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (eastern range).

"After counseling, we will produce her before CWC and further action will be taken as per its directions," an officer said.



In Video: Delhi: Minor girl locked up for two years, rescued