In a heartwrenching incident, an eighty-year-old elderly man died of starvation and lack of medical support after being locked up in a room by his son and daughter-in-law without food for days at their house in Kerala. The deceased man's wife, who was also confined in the same room, became mentally distrubed after watching her husband's condition and was shifted to a hospital after social workers and police intervened.

The deceased has been identified as Podiyan (80) and wife's name is Ammini (76). Reportedly, the aged couple had two sons and they were staying with their younger son Reji. For the past several months, the couple was locked up inside the house. Though, their son and family stayed in the adjacent house, they left the elderly parents unattended without food, water and treatment.

To prevent neighbours from coming inside, a dog was tied in front of the house when they went for work during the daytime. As the son was an alcoholic, the neighbours feared to approch the couple. The neighbours claimed that Reji refused to provide food to his parents even when he fed the dog. On Monday, when ASHA and palliative care workers visited the house, the coupl'es plight came to light. Soon the local police was informed about the same and the elderly couple was rushed to the hospital. However, Podiyan died of malnutrition, according to doctors.

The police have registered a case of unnatural death and another case against Reji and Jancy for not giving the elderly couple food and treatment. The police said they would take further action after receiving the postmortem report. Podiyan’s body was handed over to relatives and cremated on Wednesday evening.