Businessmen resort to violence for possession of property in Delhi

The ransacked houseOn the quiet sun-lit morning of September 7, at 8.45 a.m., a truck rumbled down a tree-lined avenue in Maharani Bagh, an exclusive residential area in New Delhi. The vehicle ground to a stop before house C-7, the well-kept home of M.P. Gupta, a businessman.The peace of the morning was abruptly shattered when, brandishing hockey sticks, lathis, and a few guns, a 50-strong contingent of youths led by Sunil Sareen, businessman and son-in-law of Congress(I) stalwart Yashpal Kapoor, leapt out of the truck and forced its way into the house. What followed was incredible in a capital city policed by a regular force. Sareen and his gang systematically set about ransacking the elegant bungalow. They split up into groups, and, in the words of a bewildered Bhagwat Prasad, Gupta's brother, "started ripping out wires, smashing lamps, ceiling fans, window panes and toilets." After the hooligans had turned a considerable amount of the fittings and furniture into sorry-looking junk, they took a breather, according to residents of the area gathered to watch the assault. After the recess, members of the gang started throwing furniture from the first floor drawing room followed by crockery from an adjoining room. A servant and a security guard were roughed up. Fortunately, the gang could not lay its hands on the Gupta family - Gupta, son V. K. Gupta, daughter-in-law Janak, and three grandchildren - who were away when Sareen struck.Entrenched: The invaders had been in possession of C-7 for two hours before the security guard recovered his wits and frantically telephoned his employers, a private security organisation. Meanwhile, the police received an anonymous phone call informing them of the take-over. When both police and security men arrived on the scene Sareen had entrenched himself in the house. Janak Gupta: victims of lawlessnessSaid Prasad, who was watching the drama unfold a little distance away from C-7: "There was very little we could do; the police told us that unless we took possession of the house from Sareen again, they were, helpless to act, for technically speaking the house at that moment was in Sareen's possession."One consolation for the Guptas was that none of the household effects were being shipped out of the premises: an attempt to do so had been foiled by a ring of security guards. Sareen and his men were busy preparing to celebrate their victory.Carpets were laid on the lawn, shamianas erected and all was made ready for a puja followed by a house-warming party. Guests started arriving, soft drinks were served with gusto - it was a hot day and everyone seemed to be having fun. By evening, the celebrations had ended and about 50 men stayed behind to guard the newly - acquired fortress.It was around 10 p.m. that the final act of the drama began as Gupta mustered a hundred men to launch a counter-attack. The battle which lasted about an hour was bloody. Apart from tearing apart whatever little there was left intact in the house, it left many injured including a policeman who was struck in the hand by a bullet fired from the first floor. The police had finally decided to intervene to restore a semblance of law and order. The warring factions were broken up leaving behind two revolvers, a shot-gun, a lot of broken glass, and patches of blood everywhere.Political Influence: Both parties to the conflict had their own stories to tell. Sareen claimed that he was not an intruder but the rightful owner of the house. He said that he had paid for the house and had the relevant documents to prove it. According to police sources, Sareen had documents with him indicating a handover of the house by Gupta to him. Gupta, however, denied this, claiming that the documents were forged.Police sit helplessly in front of the building: hands tied?The house belonged to a Bombay businessman, H.A. Shah, who had instituted legal proceedings to evict the Guptas, but had suddenly dropped the case last month. Shah's action to drop the case has led observers to speculate that he might have struck a deal with Sareen to have the Guptas forcibly evicted. Shah was unavailable for comment.The Guptas assert that the police inaction was directly related to the influence wielded by Yashpal Kapoor and R.K. Dhawan with whom Sareen has close ties. "That little twerp (referring to Sareen) would not have the courage to act on his own unless he had political backing," said Prasad. This is not the first such adventure by Sareen, according to Janak Gupta. "Sareen is also believed to have taken over another house (B-28, Maharani Bagh) a year ago. This seems to be his business; those tenants could not fight it out, we will," said Janak. "If it hadn't been for my brother, I would have been on the streets," said M.P. Gupta. Paralysed Law: Tenant-landlord tussles are not new to Delhi, but this is perhaps the first time that the capital has witnessed a confrontation of this heightened nature. Ironically, the hands of the law, like the onlookers in the Maharani Bagh incident, were paralysed throughout most of the drama. Said a police constable on duty at the site of the incident: "Seventeen such incidents have occurred in Delhi over the last few months; this time it has taken place in the 'rich man's area', so everyone is perturbed." But those who witnessed the episode saw it in a different light. Said a resident of Maharani Bagh: "Rich or poor man's home, it is becoming clear that the 'law' is on the side of those who have political clout and muscle power to break it."The police apparently were unable to come to the rescue of the Guptas promptly because of their preoccupation with the Akali Dal rally at the Boat Club and a bank robbery in the South Extension area.Sareen, his brother Suresh, and two other associates have been arrested under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and remanded to judicial custody till September 21. They have been refused bail by both the metropolitan magistrate and the sessions court judge. But the Guptas are bracing themselves for another attack. Says M.P. Gupta: "The problem has not yet ended, they (Sareen and Co) will try again. The matter has yet to be resolved." But perhaps the comment that summed up the whole sordid episode was made by a Maharani Bagh resident who had watched the proceedings from beginning to end: "If Gupta wants to keep his house, he had better rustle up some political clout to back up his muscle power."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 7, 2013 14:29 IST--- ENDS ---

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Businessmen resort to violence for possession of property in Delhi

The peace of the morning was abruptly shattered when, brandishing hockey sticks, lathis, and a few guns, a 50-strong contingent of youths led by Sunil Sareen, businessman and son-in-law of Congress(I) stalwart Yashpal Kapoor, leapt out of the truck and forced its way into the house.

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