Instead of cracking criminal cases, the South Mumbai police have been kept busy in dealing with property-related complaints which are filed by affluent family members against each other.

Most of these property-related cases registered with the police are non-cognisable offences, where family members accuse each other of issues ranging from stealing household stuff to beating up parents.

In turn, in order to decrease the number of such cases, the police have now started asking the court to seal the controversial flats.

In a recent case, where the family members of the Harsora family lodged eight complaints against each other with the Gamdevi police, the police have asked the court to seal the plush flat in Summer Villa Building near the Mahalakshmi Temple.

Jitendra Harsora lives with his mother, sister-in-law, two sisters and a brother in the flat, which was bought by their father Narottam Harsora. The police have been receiving complaints from the siblings against each other over petty issues like mobile stealing.

In most of these cases, the police direct the complainants towards the court, as they call it a civil matter. “Mostly, the main reason behind these harassment cases are property disputes,” said a police officer from the Gamdevi police station.

Malabar Hill and Gamdevi police stations have received most number of such cases.