In a sad incident that shed light on the plight of parents left behind by their children, who had left India to chase their careers, a 72-year-old man was found with maggot-infested feet at his one-room apartment in the posh area of East Delhi’s Dilshad Garden.

The shocking incident came to light when the 72-year-old retired Government official was found in a famished condition, hungry, thirsty and crying.

locals living in the l-Block of the Dilshad Garden area claimed that it was only after foul smell emanating from the house of the elderly man that they called up their local political leaders, some NGOs and the local police.

“On forcefully breaking open the door of the one-room apartment which was locked from inside, we found Amarjeet Singh lying on the bed with his feet fractured. For 72 hours, he was hungry and thirsty,” said a senior police officer.

“During enquiry, we found that a distant woman relative used to visit Amarjeet. However, for past three days, she had not been coming. Moreover, locals informed us that since Amarjeet used to lock himself from inside, he might not have been able to unlock the door,” police said.

While the children of Amarjeet live in Canada, his wife died a few years ago. After the demise of Amarjeet's wife, he rented out one of the rooms to a man named Satender for Rs 4,000. The apartment is built in such a manner that the room rented out to Satender opens up on the other side, thus leaving Amarjeet alone.

Police said that apart from the rental income, Amarjeet used to get a monthly pension of Rs 2,500.

Police suspect that apart from being physically hurt, Amarjeet might also be mentally deranged.

On Saturday evening, along with the help of a local NGO and the Delhi Police, Amarjeet was taken out of the dimly lit room and rushed to a nearby hospital where he is undergoing treatment.