Mumbai: Property tiff lands woman in hospital

Shobha Kriplani at the hospital; Video grab from the surveillance camera footage reveals men talking to Kriplani at Irani Wadi.

Shobha Kriplani, an 84-year-old woman, suffered a heart attack allegedly after being intimidated and threatened over a property dispute. Initially a non-cognisable (NC) offence was registered, but after the elderly woman was hospitalised, the police have recorded statements of the victim, but are yet to register an FIR in the case. Kriplani family members have urged the police to book the culprits under Sections 506 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code (trespassing, threatening and attempt to murder).

According to Shobha's son Anil Kriplani, 56, on Sunday afternoon, Shatrugan Omprakash Singh alias Monu and several others barged into their premises and threatened to harm them if they did not give up their property rights to Anil Jain for redevelopment. Kriplani are landlords of an Udharam Chawl plot measuring about 500 metres at Hemu Kalani Road, Irani Wadi in Kandivli West. Besides the Kriplani clan, 24 tenants are residing on the same plot.

"About seven to eight people came in two to three vehicles. Of these, five to six barged into our premises and started abusing and threatening my mother. My mother, along with the support of other local residents, resisted them. As the crowd started gathering, the police emergency number was dialled for help and Singh and his members started disappearing. We even have CCTV footage of the incident," Anil told mid-day. At the time of the incident, Anil was at his residence in Poinsur, Kandivli West, but when he received a call informing about the incident, he rushed to the spot.

Further explaining the chronology of the Sunday episode, Anil said that he rushed to the police station where cops took an NC, while his younger brother Manoj rushed their mother to the hospital as she allegedly got injured during this incident.

"My mother was immediately rushed to a hospital in Jogeshwari and was admitted to ICU for medical treatment as she had suffered a stroke," Anil said. The medical papers prepared by doctors too mention injuries to my mother and sudden spike in blood pressure. Blaming Singh and Jain for his mother's situation (stroke) Anil said, "I feel those responsible for this act should be dealt with stern action. Instead of NC, police should file an FIR, including Section 307."

He accused Jain of cheating them in the deal over their property. "While signing documents our family was told it is a development agreement, but in actual signature was taken for conveyance documents. Also in the agreement it was mentioned that four flats will be given and if within four years the development is not done the agreement would stand to be null and void. But, they have tampered/overwritten the agreement documents, with an intention to grab our property," Anil said.

Earlier in March, Kriplani had approached the Kandivli police to take action against Jain for threatening them and making an attempt to grab their property on the basis of forged documents. "Jain is interested in the property. Hence, Jain and his local goons even put pressure on mother to withdraw execution of the documents with another developer. Jain has been persistently and continually putting mental and physical pressure on my family members to withdraw the documents executed in favour of the other developer. In fact, the Kriplani family was called and threatened.

The audio recording is available with the family members of the landlord," said advocate Ajit Upadhyay. Senior Police Inspector of Kandivali police station, Dnyaneshwar Ganore, confirmed that the statement has been recorded but no FIR has been registered in this case.

The other side

Speaking to mid-day, Singh and Jain termed the allegation as baseless and made with mala fide intentions. Refuting the allegations levelled by the Kriplanis, Jain said, "In 2012, the Kriplani family registered conveyance with me. In 2023, the same family members registered conveyance with other developers. It is not us, but they who have cheated. We have filed a cheating and forgery complaint against the Kriplani family. The allegations of threatening and trespassing are false and baseless." Jain further mentioned that he has given power of attorney to Singh to take care of his Irani Wadi site. Echoing similar sentiments, Singh stated that the Kriplani family are the real trespassers in this case. "How can a visit to your own property be termed trespassing?" We are filing police cases too. "Since they have earlier filed a police case against Kriplani, the latter has been filing false cases against the former, merely to take revenge and harass them," Singh said.