Police have booked cases against a home owner in Chikkodi who fired shots in the air on Sunday night to force his tenants to vacate his premises as they had delayed payment of rent .
Noor Ahmed Shahapurkar, 50, fired at least three shots from his double-barrel gun in the air, damaging the roof tiles of his house, in which Rohini Dikshit’s family lived. This was to threaten them to vacate the house immediately, Ms. Dikshit said in her complaint to the Chikkodi police.
The woman, who works for a private firm, was facing financial problems and could not pay rent during the lockdown. The owner kept forcing her to pay the rent or vacate. When she told him that they would vacate by July 1, the owner said he would deduct the unpaid rent from her deposit, and asked her to pay the balance of ₹2,500 immediately. She had sought time till July 1 to pay this amount and leave the house.
However, on Sunday night, the families got into a verbal spat and Shahapurkar went into his house to collect his gun and came back to threaten the tenants. He lost his temper and fired shots in the air.
SP Lakshman Nimbaragi has ordered an inquiry to check whether the gun was licensed.
Chikkodi police have booked a case under sections 503 of IPC (intimidation), and various provisions of the Arms Act.
The owner has also filed a case against Ms. Dikshit saying she and her husband had got into a fight with him.
