After 10 days of ‘battle’ with tenant, elderly couple move into their apartment in Greater Noida

Sunil Kumar, in his 60s, retired from a public sector unit in Mumbai in March after living in the city for more than 30 years with his wife Rakhi Gupta (56). They said they owned an apartment in Shri Radha Sky Garden Company in Sector 16B, Greater Noida West. After taking possession in 2021, they decided to rent the apartment to the tenant for 11 months from July 11 last year. There are around 2,000 apartments in the complex where at least 1,000 people reside.

Sunil alleged, “We sent him a notice on April 19 to leave the house in June. His initial response was positive, but that changed soon after. She initially said she would leave the apartment on June 19, but did not. On June 22, she claimed she needed time to move her stuff and would free up a room for us to move our stuff. My wife told her that leaving a room wouldn’t be enough and she could take a little longer and completely change her stuff. Later she agreed and asked us to move our things. On his word, we shipped our goods from Mumbai on July 17 and flew on July 19. She was still okay with moving out when we met in the evening, but two hours later she changed her mind and said she wouldn’t move. .”

According to Rakhi, she and her sister, who lives in the same apartment complex, met the tenant on July 19. “We have informed the tenant that our belongings will come to us at any time and that we are ready to help her vacate at least one room if not the whole house, as promised by her. She replied that she already had staff to help her move so we were assured. But two hours later she informed us that she would not allow our belongings in the apartment as she had some valuables inside. Our truck had already arrived and was parked outside the compound and we explained the situation to her, but she wouldn’t give in,” Gupta alleged.

Kumar approached the Bisrakh police station on July 20 and also spoke to senior police officers and addressed the district magistrate’s office in the following days.

“In the meantime, on Wednesday evening, the tenant informed us in writing that she would be leaving the apartment on Thursday. We called her Thursday between 7 and 7:45 a.m. but she did not answer our calls or texts. We were sitting on the stairs the whole time as there is also a network problem in this area. Then on Thursday evening, the tenant’s brother said she was in Delhi and would reach Greater Noida in a few hours. She arrived around 8:30 p.m. and agreed to move our things and promised to leave on Friday. We moved our things and my wife and her sister slept inside in one of the vacated rooms,” Kumar said, adding that his wife was hospitalized due to stress and exhaustion.

The couple have two daughters; the eldest daughter is married and the youngest lives and works in Mumbai and her wedding is scheduled for November, they said.

Mamta Varshney (65), Gupta’s older sister who moved into the apartment complex in January with her husband Anil Varshney from Mumbai, said: “We met the tenant on June 22, she informed us that she hadn’t found any other place to rent. . We offered to help her… She also informed us that she wanted to move to another apartment in the same company. Instead of finding a house for herself, she offered to find a house for my sister and her husband to rent and was unwilling to leave the house. She alleged that she was unable to rent another house because some people in the company had blasphemed her.

Varshney alleged that after her sister and brother-in-law asked the police to intervene, the tenant created a scene in front of the police team who had come to inspect last week. She allegedly misbehaved around her sister and also made several false allegations against them in front of the police, Varshney claimed.

During this time, the tenant claimed that she had visited more than eight houses, but that they had all been cancelled. “I am a single mother and this world is extremely hard for women like me. Every aspect of society is male-dominated, and I’ve faced countless obstacles trying to find my way in life. I’m a broker and I haven’t been able to find a house. I had excellent relations with the owners, but there are elements that tried to influence the situation against me,” she said.

Kumar and Gupta said they fully understand the tenant’s situation which led them to rent their apartment to her. The tenant claims to have been harassed by some residents of the company but she was aware of the vacancy notice sent to her in April.

Bisrakh police station officer Umesh Bahadur Singh said Noida police visited the compound several times after the couple filed a claim. “A police team visited the complex several times over the past week to help sort out the issues between the two parties. We heard from both sides and asked them to find a solution,” Singh said.

“The problem was solved thanks to the intervention of the police and the support of the residents of the complex. The tenant was not forcibly evicted…” said Ranvijay Singh, Noida Additional Deputy Police Commissioner.