BENGALURU: There was high drama in front of a sprawling house on Borewell Road in Whitefield, with a group staking claim to a large piece of property, vandalising it and attacking the residents on Thursday morning.
The Baliga family, residing here since 1990, has filed an FIR at the Whitefield police station against the attackers for intimidation, harassment and assault.
The FIR names Jawahar Gopal, a businessman, and many others. Things came to such a pass that the family was surrounded by a mob, and the senior citizen of the family fired a bullet from a 12-bore rifle in a bid to disperse the crowd outside their home.
Vishal Baliga, who runs a chain of restaurants in the city, told TNIE, “A case has been going on in court between us and Jawahar’s family for quite some time in the high court. The next hearing is slated for December 20. They attacked us suddenly, accompanied by nearly 80 people.”
The property, measuring 2 acres and 6 guntas, was bought by the family and a house built in 1990, following which they moved in there. “We have the original documents of the property owned by my grandmother. They have forged her signature in a sale deed created after her death. It was readied eight years after she died,” he alleged. An FIR has already been filed about the issue in 2008 in the same Whitefield station, he said.
In a different case relating to property involving an uncle of the family, police filed a chargesheet against Jawahar and others in 2017 for forging documents, he alleged.
Vishal was dragged by the collar outside the house and beaten up, he added. “Using bulldozers, they have broken our compound wall, damaged my gate and destroyed our 40-year-old trees and plants, and even stolen fruits from our orchard.
In self-defence, my elderly father, Dinesh Baliga, who is a licensed gun holder, had to fire in the air to make them leave our property.
The group only mocked and laughed at him. Cops, including senior officials, did not do anything,” Vishal added. “We had to call up the school where my son (two-and-half years old) is studying and ask them to detain him there for some time.” he said.
While the father-son duo went to the police station, the women in the house were attacked. “My elderly mother Lakshmi Baliga was slapped while my wife Priya was dragged down the stairs, beaten and punched in the eye by the women in the crowd.
She is now in hospital along with the police taking CT scans,” he added. An eyewitness told TNIE, “The women who were alone in the house were being beaten up while the cops stood watching. I was completely stunned.”
A top cop told TNIE, “The family claims to have documents but did not produce any of them. Their house was not attacked and only portions outside it. The Gopal family, which carried out the attack, says they are the actual owners and have purchased the property from their family in the past through a General Power of Attorney. We cannot do anything. They need to fight the matter through civil court.”
No one in the Gopal family could be reached for their comment.