The evicted residents of Mankhurd hold a protest outside the office of the Mumbai civic body.
Thirty-three families have been evicted from a low-income housing society in Mankhurd, the eastern suburbs of Mumbai.
The people claim they bought their flats in 2010 from card-carrying members of the Mumbai civic body. But three years later, the civic body said it had no knowledge of the sales. The residents moved court, which ordered that they could not be evicted till the first week of January 2016, but the civic officials carried out the eviction on December 11; 392 others stand to lose their homes.
The civic body claims the residents occupied the flats illegally. The flat owners insist they paid Rs 5 to 8 lakh in cash to BMC officials.
"They threw out our belongings and made me and my grandmother leave our home. Where do we go now? We are living on the road," said Nanda Dattatrey Marane, one of the evicted residents.
"They used to send their officials and collect money... anywhere between Rs 5-8 lakh and always carried the official stamp and allotment letters with the official signature on it. But when I spoke to their officials, they said no allotment letters are being given," said Mahavir Sonawane, the Mumbai president of Republican Party of India.
Alleging a nexus between the officials of the government and the civic body, Shiv Sena lawmaker Tukaram Kate said, "Even government officials are involved in this, else so many people wouldn't have been able to shift there and fill up the buildings overnight... There has been corruption and therefore no action was taken until now'.
Till date, no action has been taken against the officials who allegedly cheated hundreds of people. The civic body has said it will set up a committee to investigate the matter.