A man was kept locked up in a room for 17 years by his mother at a village in Davanagere district of Karnataka. He was finally freed on Sunday.

Keshvamurthy, who is in his 30s, came out of his forced confinement after the neighbours — on coming to know of his plight — broke the wall of the room and rescued him, police said.

Preliminary investigations by the police have revealed that Keshvamurthy’s mother, Chowdamma, had confined him to a room in 1995 because he objected to her becoming a “devadasi” (a religious tradition in which women are ‘married’ to God) after she separated from her husband.

Chowdamma did not even allow her son to go out to answer nature's call and used to give him food through a window in the room, police said. After he was freed, Keshvamurthy, who sported long hair and beard, was given a shave and a haircut and was then taken to National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore for a check-up, he said.

Defending her action, Chowdamma alleged that Keshvamurthy in his younger days used to beat her and his brother.

When questioned by the police, she reportedly said, “I held him (Keshavmurthy) captive in that room to teach him a lesson.”