New Delhi, April 12: Noida police today rescued two unmarried sisters, both in their 40s, who had confined themselves in their house in a plush apartment for the past seven months.

Police said both the sisters — Anuradha Behal, 42, and Sonali Behal, 40, — were starving for the past few months and had become extremely weak. They were shifted to a nearby government hospital in critical condition.

“Both the sisters were starving and were dehydrated. They were lying on the bed and stench emanated from the house as soon as our officers broke open the door. They were so weak that we had to bring a stretcher to rush them to the hospital in an ambulance,” said superintendent of police Anant Dev.

A probe revealed that the women had locked themselves in soon after the death of their father, a retired colonel.

“They studied till Class XI and were unemployed. They were totally dependent on their father and were emotionally attached to him. Soon after his death, they became depressed and lost the zeal to live,” added Dev.

Acting on a complaint from neighbours last week that two sisters had locked themselves in their apartment for the past few months and had not interacted with anybody during that time, a police team rushed to the spot but returned when the duo did not open the door.

“Today we decided to break open the door and were shocked to see the two lying semi-nude on bed. Both were too weak to speak and seemed to be in coma,” said Dev.

The police team was accompanied by social activist Usha Thakur.

According to Colonel Sharma, a member of the residents welfare association, the sisters have a younger brother whose whereabouts are not known.

“We approached the police several times but they did not respond. As soon as the door was broken down today, a foul smell emanated and some of the policemen started vomiting,” he said.

“The condition of both is critical and they have been admitted to the ICU. Both are very weak and fragile and seem to have been starving for the past two or three months,” an officer said.

An inquiry revealed that the two women used to order food from the nearby canteen till December last year. “They have been suffering from extreme depression. It seems they were emotionally attached to their father and they lost interest to live after his death and decided to lock themselves in,” said Sandeep Vohra, a psychiatrist.

Police said both sisters were suffering from extreme depression and it seems they did not eat anything for the past few months.

Residents of the apartment said that their bother Vipin, a software engineer in Gurgaon, left them after his father’s death.

Last September, Shalini Mehra, 54, a mentally unstable woman, was found living with the dead body of her 80-year-old mother for almost four months in her south Delhi house. The body was discovered by Delhi Jal Board workers when they visited the house for supervising a water meter.