Elderly man reclaims flat from defaulting tenants after 4 yrs

Bengaluru: For 60-year-old Venugopal Mottur Padmanabhan, a retired bank employee from JP Nagar, Monday brought big relief. Reason: The elderly man finally managed to evict a couple who had rented his flat on Bannerghatta Road, which he had purchased with his hard-earned money, and defaulted on paying rent.It took a prolonged court battle and help from city police before Padmanabhan could finally take possession of his flat on Monday afternoon.In June 2019, Amit Choudhary, an interior designer and Neha Choudhary, manager of a private bank branch in Bengaluru, moved into the three-bedroom flat in Nandi Woods Residency, Nobel Residency Layout, Yelenahalli, Bannerghatta Road, after entering an agreement with Padmanabhan, who was then working in Muscat. A court order issued by the VIIth Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge in Bengaluru in January 13, 2023 noted that the couple moved into the flat after issuing a cheque for Rs 1 lakh as deposit which later bounced. Two months into their stay, the Choudharys stopped paying rent, leading to Padmanabhan sending them a legal notice in December 2019, asking them to vacate the flat after clearing the dues. He even approached the bank branch where Neha worked, but it was of no help.Painstaking court battleThe couple allegedly paid three months of pending rent and offered to vacate the flat in March 2020, after their children’s school closes for vacation. However, the pandemic struck and they remained in the flat free of cost and even approached the court in July 2020, claiming that the owner and his wife had threatened them using their henchmen. While the elderly man took up the legal challenge, the court dismissed the tenants’ case in December 2021, as they themselves failed to appear.On January 2021, Padmanabhan pleaded with the court for an eviction order so that he could reclaim his flat, which the couple had usurped without paying rent for months. After a two-year court battle, the civil court passed an order on January 13, 2023, directing the couple to vacate the flat and pay the remaining dues, apart from Rs 16,000 towards litigation expenses of the complainant.However, despite the court order, the Choudharys refused to move out, leading the elderly Bengaluru man to procure a delivery warrant from court to evict them with police help. Finally, on Monday, with assistance from Hulimavu police, Padmanabhan reclaimed his flat four years after the couple had moved in and remained there illegally without paying flat maintenance charges, electricity bills and rent for months.
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