For former ONGC official Birendranarayan Jha, assisting a friend in need proved to be a headache. He gave his pal a two-year lease on his home on New CG Road in 2017. The 73-year-old went to the police on Tuesday. He said his tenant was not only refusing to leave the property but had also broken into secure areas of his home, and taken valuables and documents.
Jha, a Mumbai resident, stated to the police he was employed by the ONGC as a group general manager in Ahmedabad before being moved to Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh in 2008. “I retired in 2009 and purchased a two-story home in Chandkheda’s Ishan Bungalows neighbourhood on New CG Road.”
“I met Naveen Kumar Singh, a stationery provider when I was at work. We remained in touch even after I retired. I remained in Ahmedabad till 2014, when he and my wife relocated to Mumbai for him to start a new job,” Jha said to authorities.
In 2017, it is said that Singh informed Jha that his Chandkheda home was undergoing renovations and that he was searching for a place to stay in the interim. “I consented to rent out the ground floor for two years for Rs 7,500 per month. We made a contract that said as much. When the rental agreement’s validity expired in October 2019, Singh requested an extension, stating that his home was still undergoing renovations,” added Jha.
“Then, in March 2022, the government enforced a lockdown, which prevented me from returning to the city for two years.
I was supposed to come in March 2022 but had to put off my plan again due to a medical emergency in the family,” Jha stated in the FIR.
On June 26, when Jha got home, he discovered that Singh had allegedly taken control of the second floor and taken some belongings from Jha’s room.
Jha reported to the police, “The papers relating to the lease were absent.
Singh threatened me with grave consequences when I asked him a question.
He started putting pressure on me to sell him the house.
He persuaded others to contact and pressure me into listing the house.”
Angry, Jha filed a case against Singh for criminal intimidation, criminal trespass, and breach of trust.
