Chandigarh: In a shocking incident, a man allegedly kept his wife locked up in the toilet of his home in a Panipat village for nearly a year, saying she faced mental health problems, police said on Thursday.

The 35-year-old woman, the mother of three grown-up children of 11, 15, and 16 years was found living in an unhuman condition in the toilet for nearly a year, the police said after rescuing her on Tuesday.

The woman was rescued from her confinement from Rishipur village in Panipat by a team of district Women and Child Welfare Department officials with the help of police on Tuesday after they got a tip-off.

The woman had been locked up in the toilet. Upon questioning, her husband Naresh Kumar, who was arrested for the offence, claimed she was having mental health issues for nearly the past three years, said Panipat's Sanoli police station in-charge Surender Dahiya.

Dahiya said a case was registered against Kumar under sections 498A and 342 of the Indian Penal Code on charges of a man subjecting his wife to cruelty and wrongfully confining her.

A team of Haryana State Commission for Women also visited Panipat on Wednesday and enquired about the woman.

The SHO said the couple were married for several years and have three children, aged 16, 15, and 11, two of them daughters.

Preliminary investigations revealed the woman was not being provided even proper food and she had turned frail and weak during her confinement, he said.

The man does farming. During the questioning, he claimed his wife was having mental health issues and would often turn violent, said Dahiya.

The SHO quoted the man as claiming that his wife would often pick up various things including garbage and throw them around when she would go out.

Dahiya said after her rescue the woman was medically examined at a local hospital twice and authorities would further take her to PGIMS, Rohtak for a detailed check-up, including for her mental health.

Though her vital parameters are okay, we will also get her checked up by a mental health expert to assess the adverse impact which the confinement may have caused, he said.

Asked why the children did not speak up for their mother, he said, We are looking into this aspect. We have got them counseled.

He also said the children used to go to school.

Asked if no one in the neighborhood came to know about the woman being locked inside a toilet, the police official said the villagers were told about her mental illness.

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Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.

The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.

Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.

The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.

Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.

The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.