Ernakulam: Taking an expatriate by total surprise and shock he was informed that that nearly 30 people were living in his locked bungalow in Kochi. The revelation came to light when he received an electricity bill amounting to Rs 5,000. When he contacted the Kerala State Electricity Board to question the bill details where his house was locked, the electricity regulatory body confirmed that the bill was released from the office after showing it was used by the individuals residing there. His local ‘investigation’ into the details revealed that there were people who managed to intrude into his house.
To his surprise, he found that a group of people had broken the lock of his house and were living inside. Further after his local investigation with the help of his friends and relatives, he discovered that around 30 people, including students and families, were occupying his two-storey house. The trespassers had painted and partitioned the interiors after breaking in, and one of the room was also subleased to another individual.
In a major surprise, it came to light that a person named Suresh Babu had occupied the house initially and had been leasing the rooms to other people for the past 6 months.
“When we questioned the inmates in the house we came to know that Suresh Babu had let them stay in the house and had been collecting the rent. We are yet to know how he managed to enter the house when the owner had locked it and had gone abroad”, said the Local councillor on conditions of anonymity.
When confronted, Suresh Babu claimed he was entrusted with the house’s upkeep. However, the expatriate, Ajith Vasudevan, refuted this claim, stating that neither he nor his family had given Suresh Babu any such responsibility. A police complaint has been lodged against Babu and the other illegal residents with the city police commissioner.
