A teenager who had gone missing from her house in a village in Kerala's Palakkad district 10 years ago was traced to her partner's residence where she had been living in a room since. Police said she was 18 years old when she went missing from her home near Ayiloor under the Nemmara police station limits in February 2010. They had conducted an investigation after registering a case. They recently discovered that the partner's house was located near her parent's and she had been living with the man till March this year.

This came to light following an investigation into the disappearance of the man three months ago. Both the woman and the man were traced by his brother on Tuesday to a rented house in Vithanassery, a small village near Nemmara, and were produced before the court. The woman was allowed to go with the man after she informed the court they had decided to live together, police said. Relatives of the woman did not oppose her decision, they said.

According to the police, the woman was looked after by the man during her 10-year-long stay in a room at his house in Karakkattuparamb. He had managed to successfully hide the matter from his relatives, including his parents and sister. The man served her food and provided other facilities. The room was locked from outside. The woman reportedly got used to getting out of the room during the night through a window which was closed during the daytime.

Asked whether there was any mystery behind the entire episode, a senior police officer told PTI that all these accounts were gathered from the relatives and everything had to be examined. The woman's family is not disclosing any other details, police said.

Watch video: A Kerala man hid his partner in his room for 11 years, without his family's knowledge