The last few years have been cruel to Ananthaiah Shetty, the 94-year-old rescued from the terrace of his house in Shakhambarinagar where he was found in chains.
In his better days, Mr. Shetty was running a shop in Kalasipalya for many decades. Neighbours said he was cared for till his wife Nagarathnamma died about four years ago.
The frail nonagenarian, who looked malnourished, has four sons — Venkatesh, Sannath Kumar, Suresh and Girish — and two daughters — Girija and Anita.
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What J.P. Nagar police, summoned by neighbours, saw was shocking. Mr. Shetty was curled up under a platform on which the water tank was constructed.
The space was open on one side, and a pitiful board was used to cover this side when it rained.
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The place was filthy.
The police rushed Mr. Shetty to hospital, brushing aside the family’s protestations that he was an embarrassment who begged on the streets. Doctors said he could barely walk and that he was on the brink of starvation.
Old age home
The senior citizen, a native of Maralawadi in Kanakapura, could only manage that he was very weak and would not mind being moving to an old age home.
Local councillor B. Somashekar told reporters he would be placed in the Arya Vaishya Vriddhashrama.
Neighbours said they have often seen Mr. Shetty begging for money at the street corner. Jayamma, a resident there for over 40 years, said: “I used to take my granddaughter to tuition classes and would see him begging. However, I have not seen him for at least four months now.”
Divided family
His oldest son Venkatesh and his family had split from his brothers and live down the road while the second son, Sanath, lives elsewhere in the city. Mr. Venkatesh’s wife Aruna told The Hindu they were not on friendly terms with the other siblings and had not visited them in years.
“My father-in-law would often have lunch and dinner in our house and we would take care of him. However, a few years ago, he started living with the younger sons after which we did not keep in touch. We could not even check up on him as they would not allow us to enter their house.”
The house was built in the 1990s and Girish lived on the first floor and Suresh on the second floor.
‘It’s a shame’
Lakshmamma, a neighbour, said she had asked Mr. Shetty’s daughter-in-law Kalpana, who ran a shop on the ground floor, about his whereabouts.
“Many of us thought he had passed away. When we asked Kalpana the other day, she said he was embarrassing the family by begging on the streets and therefore had kept him upstairs itself. We did not know he was in such a sorry state. It’s a shame.”
The police said that they would continue further investigation once Mr. Shetty regained his strength.