Greedy Realtors are the Greatest Threat to Elderly

The Times of India

January 4, 2009

India

In a city which claims to be home to nine lakh senior citizens, the case of 87-year old Latika Sarkar is not an aberration. Police records as well as cases reported by NGOs abound with tales of atrocities committed against the elderly, all for property. According to Delhi Police, out of the total number of crimes reported against senior citizens, 60% were related to property, forcing commissioner Y S Dadwal to order districts to maintain records of all property dealers found to be involved in crime. Times City cites some of the cases which made headlines. 

* A common thread running through most cases has been the role of the property dealer. With a well-oiled machinery that identifies property that can be grabbed later, the property dealer has played a major role in several of the elderly abuse cases. A case in point was the arrest of Surinder Sailhot, a south Delhi property dealer in December 2008. 

Sailhot was caught trying to grab three properties of Lieutenant Colonel Trilkochand Prabhakar, who passed away in 2006. Sailhot came to know that Prabhakar used to stay alone at his Defence Colony house and owned two other properties in GK-I and GK-II. He befriended Prabhakar and prepared a forged will. But his fraud was exposed by the economic offence wing of Delhi Police. 

* The north district police arrested three persons in September 2007 for allegedly duping an 80-year old HoD of Delhi University, Narain Singh Gahfail. The three Madan Mohan Saini, Samsher Saini and Sudesh Kumar were arrested by the Sarai Rohilla police. The three tried to grab the property of Gahfil on the basis of forged papers and claimed that the property was owned by their grandfather. On examination of the papers, it was found that their grandfather had sold the property to Gahfil in 1960 and the papers that were produced by the three were forged. 

* The menace of property dealers again made news in October 2006 when Mohan Singh (83) and his wife Surjeet Kaur (75) were assaulted by a dealer known to them. Accused Manjeet Singh attacked the couple over a dispute regarding payment of Rs 5 lakh in commission in Chittaranjan Park, killing Kaur and injuring Singh. Manjeet was apparently forcing the couple to buy certain properties after he came to know that they could spend Rs 2 crore and were looking for a bigger house in the locality. 

* It's not only the property dealer who is always the villain. In many cases, distant relatives or care-givers are also the abusers. In 2004, an 80-year old retired IAS officer was discovered by HelpAge being abused by her maid in Defence Colony. The woman, who subsequently died, was found to have been locked in her house, bedridden with worms. The property was later claimed by a distant nephew who came forward after the case became public. 

* In 2006, the horrifying case of a retired Colonel who had been physically abused by his daughter for property came to light. Said an official of HelpAge, "The case was unique as usually, it's the son/s who are found to be torturing their parent. But in this case, the daughter had cut off the tongue of her father to get him to sign the property papers.'' The case, which was reported from a posh south Delhi locality, was subsequently hushed up as the father refused to press charges. 

* Not all cases are solved either. The murder of 63-year old Hemlata Gupta, a Padamshree awardee in May 2006 at Prasad Nagar area is still a mystery for cops as there were many beneficiaries of her wealth but police have not been able to nail the culprit till date.  

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