New Delhi/Noida: Two sisters, who were locked up in their home for seven months, were rescued from their house in Noida in a state of acute starvation, police said on Tuesday. One of the women is in critical condition. The two women, whose bodies were infested with maggots and bugs, have been taken to Kailash hospital in Noida.

The police said that the sisters, around 40 years of age, had shut themselves in their house voluntarily for seven months after their father's death, adding that they have been suffering from depression ever since. They added that the father was a retired colonel.

Watch video:
Sisters, locked up for 7 months, rescued

The RWA members also identified the sisters as Sonali and Anuradha Behl and reported to be unmarried, live in Sector 29 in Noida. The police have also summoned the women's brother, identified as Vipin Behl, for questioning. The women's neighbours also said that Vipin had left home after the father died and never returned to check his sisters' whereabouts.The neighbours also said the women never came out of the house for seven months and were never seen or heard by anybody..

According to members of the residents welfare association (RWA) of the locality, the women were heard feebly protesting when police, with masks to protect them from the stench, tried to break open the door. One of them was brought out of the house on a stretcher.