How senior citizens living alone in prime locations become targets of land mafia

Byline Shirish Vaktania Diwakar Sharma and Anurag KambleElderly citizens living alone in huge properties at some of Mumbairsquos prime locations often become targets of the land mafia The attempts range from showing compassion to coercion to usurp their assets For a lucky few vigilant neighbours come to the rescue while others get stuck in legal wrangles In the second part of lsquoThe old and the vulnerablersquo series midday throws light on a few such casesMadhu PoplaiLand sharks find it easy to win over old and ailing people whose children have settled abroad and do not find time to check on them midday also came across instances where politicians and police were alleged to have worked hand in glove with the land mafia In some cases landgrabbers also killed seniors for their propertiesMurder over Worli apartmentIn 2003 Mumbai was left numb by the murder of a Parsee woman The killer turned out to be her adopted daughter Adi Ardeshir Cursetjee met Geeta Soni in 1997 Geeta being an animal activist was liked by Cursetjee and his wife Geeta became close and began living with them at their Worli flat after a couple of yearsThe couple considered Geeta their daughter and even altered their will to make her the sole beneficiary of their assets In 2003 Geeta fell in love with a driver called Irshad Mullah and married him much against the wishes of her adoptive father An upset Cursetjee wanted to reword the will and let Geeta know of his wishOn May 20 Geeta her husband and her biological mother took Cursetjee to her own home at Kakad Estate Worli and killed him The accused then got a fake death certificate and kept the body at the Tower of SilenceA family friend of Cursetjee got suspicious and called the police In custody Geeta said she wanted to usurp Cursetjeersquos flat worth Rs 3 crore and his bank balance of a few more crores In November 2003 Geeta jumped to her death from the 3rd floor of the sessions court building after she was sentenced to life Her husband too tried to end his life He was saved by the policeRs 3croreValue of Cursetjeersquos Worli flat in 2003A man stole the papers of a flat of an 85yearold woman at Simla House on Napean Sea Road and sold it after her deathNapean Sea RoadYusuf Amir Baig was also arrested in 2010 for allegedly selling the flat of one Radhaben Samani who lived in Simla House Apartment on Nepean Sea Road after her deathMohammad Nasir secretary of the society said ldquoAround 25 years ago Radhabenrsquos health was failing Her daughter Madhvi an air hostess with British Airlines took her to her home in London After her motherrsquos death Madhvi came to Mumbai and realised that her motherrsquos flat had been sold to someone elserdquo On a complaint by Madhvi the police found that Baig had stolen the property papers from Radhabenrsquos home The Bombay High Court later ordered to hand over the property to MadhviBhulabhai Desai RoadGiving relief to an 82yearold woman from ldquoextreme harassmentrdquo the Bombay High Court recently told her daughter and soninlaw to vacate her south Mumbai flat within 10 days along with their daughter The octogenarian had told the HC that she didnrsquot want to see her daughter till she was aliveThe woman has two sons one in the US and another at Andheri and a daughter She let her daughter and soninlaw live in her 1057sq ft flat on the 16th floor of Rewa Apartment Bhulabhai Desai Road Mahalaxmi as they faced financial difficulties Her ordeal began after her husband died in 2014 In November of that year her daughter got a gift deed made in her favour to claim 42 per cent of the 50 per cent of undivided share of the mother in the flatClaiming torture the mother moved the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Tribunal in January 2021 She said she was denied medicines and food her phone was thrown into the toilet and she was beaten in the stomach In February the Tribunal asked the daughter to vacate and flat and the decision was upheld by the HCPali Hill BandraA 98yearold woman whose ailing husband passed away a few years ago was targeted three years ago Fortunately she was protected after the secretary of the Pali Hill Residents Association smelt a rat Madhu Poplai secretary of the association said she has been taking care of the elderly woman June Monteiro and hera husband when he was alive for decadesldquoHer daughter Ruby Goans moved to Australia when she was 16yearold now she must be in her 70s After uncle Joe passed away in 2018 she June became completely devastatedrdquo said PoplaiPoplai said she had to sell off Monteirorsquos property only to meet her expenses that go up to R2 lakh a monthldquoMonteirorsquos property was sold for R54 crore and we shifted her to my own society on rent so that she can remain at visible distance Meantime I got occupied with some family issuesrdquo she saidldquoTaking advantage of my busy schedule a couple got closer to June and in a few days two of their female accomplices started to live with her in the rented flatrdquo she said The two women apparently would sneak in around 1030 pm and leave the premises at 6 am ldquoI had the duplicate keys to Junersquos flat One day I entered the flat around 4 am and saw two women sleeping there I kicked them out and told them that they would face legal action if they returnedrdquo said PoplaiShe added ldquoThe couple had met June at a hospital where she had gone for a test After winning her trust by offering her cake pastry and biryani the couple planted two woman accomplicesrdquoMonteiro is currently being looked after by the residents of Cozihome at Pali Hill ldquoSociety manager Maxie Roderiques and Joe DrsquoSouza are taking good care of her There is a maid who had been assisting Junerdquo said Poplai adding a background check revealed that the couplersquos family members are involved in grabbing of properties of old peopleFeroz Karani sold his flat at Marine Chambers after being threatened by a man who claimed to have underworld connectionMarine Chambers Dhobi TalaoFeroz Karani 65 lived in a 2000sq ft apartment on the fourth floor of Marine Chambers at Dhobi Talao He was allegedly threatened by one Yusuf Amir Baig an aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his sister Haseena ParkerNeighbours told midday that Karani died about four years ago and had sold the property out of fear Karani who had worked in many Hindi films had been living in the flat since 1940 It was worth about Rs 4 crore in 2010His neighbour at Marine Chambers told midday ldquoFeroz Karani was an old member of our society Yusuf Amir Baig used to run a juice stall He first befriended Karani by offering him juice and then began threatening him Baig would use his photos with Haseena Parker to pressure KaranirdquoThe neighbour continued ldquoKarani would always share his problems with us Baig harassed him after learning that he was alone in India While Karani filed a police complaint and moved court he sold the flat due to the fear of Baig and Haseena Parker Few years ago we learnt that Karani had diedrdquo2000sqftArea of Feroz Karanirsquos flatAbid Ali Mushtaque Tanaji right was arrested in 2019 for allegedly grabbing a 6000sq ft property of an undertrial left Albina Fernandes is fighting a court battle to get back her property at KalinaKalina and 6000sq ft propertyA 6000sq ft property worth Rs 50 crore of an undertrial was usurped by Kalinbased land mafias allegedly with the support of cops Following a report in midday the Vakola police arrested Abid Ali Mushtaque Tanaji 46 for allegedly trespassing on the bungalow of 66yearold Roque DrsquoSouzaDrsquoSouza was arrested for allegedly killing his wife Celine DrsquoSouza in July 2017 The police told the court that Tanaji grabbed Roquersquos bungalow with forged documents in connivance with the complainantrsquos brother Joseph and one Prem Chandran middayrsquos report prompted one Albina Fernandes 62 to allege that the same accused had also grabbed their house on a 1400sq ft plot worth about Rs 3 crore at Sundar Nagar in 2006 She said she was in Dubai then She then moved back to India to fight for her land but was forced to rent a flat in Vasai as the accused had occupied her plot Advocate Prashant Pandey is fighting her case for free ldquoThe HC had directed the lower court to dispose of the matter in four weeks but it got delayed due to COVIDrdquoRs 50croreValue of Roque DrsquoSouzarsquos Kalina property