Tenant throws woman and son out of their Rs 50-lakh flat in Charkop by fraudulently getting her to sign on sale deed instead of rent agreement. Duo living in ramshackle car by roadside for the past five months



Chanda Rawal with her son Sunny staying in Indica Car from last five months at Charkop Kandivali. Pic/ Pradeep Dhivar

Thrown out of their Rs 50-lakh flat in Charkop by their tenant, a 48-year-old woman and her son, 23, have been living in a ramshackle car that they found abandoned by the roadside, for the past five months.

They were allegedly cheated by their tenant, Nilesh Narayan Lawangre, in April this year. Under the pretext of preparing a rent agreement, Lawangre allegedly got the woman, Chanda Rawal, to sign on a sale deed instead, their lawyer told mid-day.

Rawal’s son Sunny, said, “Lawangre took all our belongings, too. We are forced to live on the streets and beg outside temples.”



Chanda Rawal with her son Sunny eat their meals in Indica Car. Pic/ Pradeep Dhivar

Lawangre denied any wrongdoing. “All allegations against me are false and baseless. I have legally bought this house from Chanda Rawal and have even a registered agreement of the sale. I also have several witnesses who can testify on my behalf if needed,” he told mid-day.

A neighbour, Amar Shelar, who is an advocate, is now helping the woman and her son get justice. Shelar is in the process of getting the papers ready on the issue and will be approaching the court soon.

“The amount of the sale is shown as Rs 20 lakh in the agreement. How can that be, when the price of the flat is Rs 50 lakh,” said Shelar.



The duo found the ramshackle car by the roadside after being thrown out by their tenants. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

No money for rent

Sunny said his mother used to sing at bars in her youth and has been living in the Charkop society for the past 18 years. She has two sons, Sunny and 21-year-old Rahul. Her husband Chetan left her several years ago. After her husband abandoned the family, it became very difficult for Rawal to run the house and give sons a good education. Both sons dropped out of school, and Rahul went to live with his aunt in Kalyan where he still is. With no steady source of income, they were finding it hard to survive. Rawal then decided to rent out the flat with a deposit of Rs 4.5 lakh and the family shifted to a slum at Borivli.

“We paid the rent for the slum room from the interest we got from the deposit. But, with some crisis or the other cropping up now and then, all the deposit money was spent. Finally, earlier this year, when we could not pay our rent, we were told to leave our rented room,” said Sunny, who has studied up to Std 10, in impeccable English.

Shelar said, “In March this year, when the tenant had taken over their flat, the mother and son used to visit me regularly to ask about on what they do to get their flat back. But, slowly, the mental trauma has left them disturbed. The son became addicted to drugs and the mother has lost her mental balance.”

Residents of the area said they often spot the car with the two sitting inside it with all their belongings. The mother leaves the car in the mornings and loiters around throughout the day in search of food. By evening, she comes back and sleeps either in the car or on the footpath next to it. Sunny, too, parks himself in the car throughout the night. Sometimes, he is missing for days on end, residents said.



Tenant trouble

After being kicked out of the house they had rented, Rawal and her son asked around if there was any way to get Rs 4.5 lakh so that they could get back their own house. At the time, an estate agent approached them saying there was a tenant willing to offer Rs10 lakh as deposit. The tenant was Lawangre. Sunny alleged that despite his mother having an account in Charkop, Lawangre took her to a Bank of Karnataka branch in Borivli to open a new account saying he would transfer the deposit amount in that account. Sunny and his mother have no idea how much had been deposited.

Sunny said Lawangre had taken his mother's signatures on three cheques, but the Rawals did not know what for. Sunny said a few days later, Lawangre threw all their belongings out of the house, telling the Rawals that the house was now his.

According to Sunny, Lawangre had brought 15-20 people who beat them and threw their belongings out. He said he and his mother were threatened with death if they returned.

Advocate Shelar was also assaulted when he supported Chanda and Sunny. He alleged that on August 2, some people had come to his house and beat him up. He reported the same to the Charkop police, after which Lawangre was arrested.

Shelar even said that Nilesh and his brother Nitesh had approached him and had offered Rs 5 lakh to leave the case alone, which he refused to do.