While the call made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week to switch off house lights on Sunday night and light lamps was enthusiastically taken up by scores of citizens in the name of optimism and morale boosting, it also lead to an ugly incident in the heart of the city.After the national activity had taken place, a couple based out of Erandwane took to social media and complained that their neighbour, a builder, had harassed them to plunge their house in the dark, like everyone else in the upscale bungalow society was doing.The affected couple, Trupti and Siddharth Prabhune, tweeted about their disturbing experience saying neighbour Gajendra Pawar verbally abused and also threatened them with a police complaint because they did not switch off their house lights and burn diyas.Siddharth, a social activist who works with labour unions, told Mirror, “Our family was sitting on our terrace around 8.45 pm. At 9 pm, we saw many houses around switching off their lights and burning diyas and candles. As I am unwell, some of the lights in our rooms were on. At this time, Pawar, who stays in front of our house, began shouting and demanding that we switch off our lights. We were stunned at his rudeness but kept quiet. He kept shouting. Finally, he abused us, using the term ‘nalayak’ (shameless) and gathered two or three more neighbours to continue the screaming.”He added, “He railed at us, claiming that we never shout ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. He threatened to complain to the police about it. We feel this entire attack was extremely incorrect.”His wife Trupti, a doctor, added, “We have nothing against our neighbours personally. But this incident of demanding that we shut the lights in our house and then screaming abuses at us is absolutely unacceptable. We are against this mentality. It was our choice to not follow the exercise. Even the PM had specified that it is optional.”Asked about this, builder Pawar freely admitted, “As our PM Narendra Modi instructed us to light diyas, we followed it and felt everyone in the society should do the same. Yes, I used an abusive word. But I did not directly refer to them. We have been clapping and lighting diyas for people who are working on the frontline of the pandemic like doctors, nursesand government officers. We have been staying in this society since a long time and the couple is my son’s age. Since I felt everyone should come together for lighting diyas, I do not think I did something wrong by asking them.”Similarly, the chairman of the bungalow society also did not feel anything incorrect had taken place. Dr Shrikant Patankar, who was present when the tiff took place, said, “As a society, we had not demanded that everyone follow the diyas activity, but this house was the only one to not switch off the lights. Rather, they kept all their lights on. It was their individual choice. But Pawar just asked them to join in the cause. There was no need to take to social media — it was small argument.”To this, Trupti refuted, “We felt threatened after being abused and faced with police being informed about us. So, we shared this incident on social media.” While Siddharth’s tweet tagged the Pune commissioner of police’s (CP) official Twitter handle, the couple has not filed any complaint with police.Speaking on the incident, CP K Venkatesham told Mirror, “If the complainant has tweeted at the official account, then we will look into this case.”