Police complaint against Lodha builders for house trespass

2nd January, 2019: Visualize this situation. You buy a flat and take possession, but unknown to you, the seller secretly retains a key and hands it over to a bunch of workers. The workers use the key to enter your flat whenever they want. Forget seeking your permission, they don't even inform you, and they don't even ring the doorbell. They just open the door and take you by surprise! This is the situation that the people of Lodha Belmondo project near Pune have been experiencing. 

Anil Kapur (name changed) bought a studio apartment in the much-hyped Lodha Belmondo project and took possession in January 2018. Ten months later, Kapur was in his house, and was startled by workmen opening his front door. He didn't know how many times this may have happened when he was not home! Anil immediately recorded a video of the incident, interrogated the workmen, and informed the management.

Workmen at Lodha Belmondo carrying a jar of keys of various flats. In a mobile-video recording by the home-owner, they admitted that their employers allowed them to enter any flat at will, without prior intimation or permission.

Stories of such incidents are circulating on Whatsapp groups. Here are screenshots of a women's group discussing how some tenants were taken by surprise by workmen inserting keys into their front door and trying to open it. Women residents of Lodha Belmondo are evidently feeling very insecure. A constant sense of insecurity haunts the residents, and many have started changing their locks. 

Women's Whatsapp group of Lodha Belmondo is discussing how workmen tried to use the keys to enter their flats without even ringing the doorbell. Note the workmen's keys circled in the photo, stuck in the door.

Hannan Singh, Associate Vice President, Hospitality of Lodha Belmondo, reportedly emailed an apology to Anil Kapur, which said, "At the outset, we would like to convey our apologies for  the inadvertent inconvenience caused to you due the visit of technical team to your apartment. We would like to restate as discussed in our meeting that this was purely intended operational check on the connectivity of power to your residence from the main MCB installed in the tower. The Meters were installed on November 2, 2018. We assure you that we do not hold any residence keys once the possession has been handed over."

But Anil Kapur is not convinced by such apologies. He points out that the builder intentionally held a key of every flat, which the workmen carry around in a jar. He also points to the possession letter where it has been printed that 4 keys are to be handed over, but the digit 4 is overwritten as a 3. See below:

And so, the angry home-owner has filed a complaint to the Commissioner of Police, Pune, wherein he has not only mentioned this incident of trespassing, and further alleged that the flat, which is claimed by the builder as 490 square-feet carpet, actually has only 430 square feet carpet area. He complained that he had been cheated by the builder.

Many weeks have passed since Anil Kapur made the police complaint. House trespass,  house-breaking, and delivering less carpet area than agreed (which amounts to cheating), are all serious cognizable offences. The big question is, will the police register an FIR against Lodha builder? 

ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST BY
Krishnaraj Rao
9821588114 / 8169471229
krish.kkphoto@gmail.com