A man has been accused of harassing his 75-year-old mother by locking her up and not giving her any food, for not selling property that was in her name to clear his debts. The incident took place at Jaggayyapet town in Vijayawada on Saturday.

Neighbours who saw the woman was in distress, contacted the local police who rescued her. Police have booked a case against the man, Motupalli Mallikharjuna Rao, a businessman, and his wife for wrongful confinement, and have arrested the duo.

According to the Jaggayyapet SI Hari Kumar, the woman, Motupalli Kanya Padmavathi, was living alone in her house for more than eight years after her husband’s demise.

Rao had proposed to sell the house citing that it need reconstruction as it was not built as per Vaastu Shastra, a traditional Hindu system of architecture. He had also told her that he incurred losses in his business and was debt-ridden, said the official to Times of India.

When Padmavathi refused the proposal to sell the house, and told him to sell his properties instead of hers to clear the debts, the son locked his mother in the house. “The women Kanya Padmavathi and her son Mallikharjuna Rao reportedly had heated arguments about the property. When she strongly objected to their proposal to sell the house, Mallikharjuna Rao and his wife expressed their anger and locked her inside the house,” said Kumar, according to TNIE.

Neighbours and passersby took notice of her cried only after ten long hours after the husband and wife locked Padmavathi in the house.“We received information from the locals about the incident and saved the woman. Based on her complaint, a case under section 342 of IPC was registered against the couple and the couple were taken into custody,” the SI added.