Puri: A 75-year-old man died allegedly after his tenants pushed him off the first floor of the house at Pathuria Sahi under Town police limits here Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Narendra Moharana, a retired private firm employee.
Sources said Narendra and his wife, Sarojini, lived on the ground floor of the duplex, while another couple used to live on rent on the first floor. Narendra’s only son works and lives in Bangalore.
According to neighbours, the mishap took place around 10am. “We heard Narendra screaming —‘They pushed me’— and we entered the house after scaling the gate. To our utter surprise, we found Narendra lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Within a few minutes, we rushed him to the district headquarters hospital (DHH) here where he was declared ‘dead on arrival’,” said one of the neighbours.
On being informed, police reached the DHH and sent the body for autopsy. Alleging that the tenants have pushed the elderly man to death over a long-standing dispute, locals demonstrated in front of the Town police station and demanded immediate arrest of the tenants.
Soon after, Town police detained the tenants for interrogation, sources said.
“The tenants did not pay rent for several years now. And they frequently quarrelled over the pending dues. However, they reached a mutual decision in presence of the police and locals in September, 2019. The tenants sought for some time to clear the pending bills. Later, the woman (tenant) lodged a complaint with the police against Narendra. In a bid to avoid possible arrest, Narendra took an anticipatory bail from the Orissa High Court, said Santosh Mohapatra and Sabyasachi Mohapatra, both residents of Pathuria Sahi.
A few locals also alleged that Narendra had approached the police in this regard, but they were non-cooperative. With no option in sight, the elderly couple had little choice but to live with the warring tenants.
On being asked, Town inspector in-charge (IIC) Upendra Pradhan rubbished the allegations of non-cooperation by cops. “Investigation into the issue is still on. Action will be taken as per law,” Pradhan said.