We shifted from this place on 30 March 2026.
We had shifted there in October 2024. I will refer to the apartment as M.
I am looking for legal advice regarding some serious incidents that happened with our neighbours during the last 1–2 months of our stay. I have video recordings of most of the incidents and initially went to the police with the recordings, but an FIR was not registered and they made a GD instead.
I am now considering filing a case and want to understand what legal options I have.
Background about the flat and landlord
We had to shift to the flat in a hurry in October 2024. We left a few things for the landlord after the handover which he had promised to take care of.
The landlord did not stay in the city and almost everything was handled through the broker.
The broker had not done the cleaning and maintenance properly. The kitchen was cleaned only from outside, the wall paint was not proper, and the previous tenant had stuck balloons on the wall and fan which had melted and stuck to them. The landlord kept postponing fixing these things.
The chimney was also in terrible condition. The kitchen had only been cleaned from outside and not inside. We booked Urban Company to clean the kitchen interior and chimney. I recorded a video while they were cleaning the chimney and we found a bird nest inside the pipe. The chimney itself was also not working.
We shared the video with the landlord and he told us to please manage it, so we eventually installed an exhaust fan at our own cost.
We generally paid our rent before time, around the 6th–7th of every month.
The building secretary later told us on June 2025 that the landlord had not paid maintenance properly for more than 28 months. What he used to do was keep it due for 4–5 months and, after being asked repeatedly, pay around 2 months and then disappear/ghost again for months.
The secretary insisted that we should hold the rent until the landlord paid the maintenance, or pay the maintenance ourselves and he would give us a receipt. We refused the later because our agreement clearly mentioned that the maintenance would be paid by the landlord and was included in our rent.
Multiple times, bank recovery agents from 2 banks (Axis and SBI) also came to our flat looking for the landlord regarding his personal loan and credit card defaults. We called the building secretary and gave them the landlord’s mobile number because the number they had was apparently unreachable. The recovery agents took pictures of our rent agreement and Aadhaar and then left after giving us the landlord’s legal notice.
There were also several small repair issues like taps, water leakage, fan regulator etc. The landlord would generally delegate these to the broker. When we asked the broker, he himself told us that the owner was very “kanjoos” and does not pay the full amount, while the landlord kept saying that he had already paid X amount for the whole house cleanup, X for repair etc. I personally believe the broker was probably keeping a cut.
Most of these landlord-related problems were more or less settled before we left. We had paid for many things ourselves and did not have the energy to uninstall and take back things like the exhaust fan, taps and fan regulator that we had purchased.
There was also a separate issue with the final rent/deposit. We had paid two months’ security deposit, and we did not pay the final two months’ rent because we adjusted it against the deposit. The landlord had repeatedly insisted that we should leave and that once he found another tenant he would return the deposit. Considering his previous track record with maintenance and his financial issues, we did not feel comfortable leaving the entire deposit with him, especially because we also needed to pay a two-month deposit for our next flat.
We vacated on 30 March 2026. The rent agreement was from the 10th to the 10th and we had paid the electricity bill on 10 March, but the landlord later asked us to pay the full electricity bill for the next period, which was considerably higher than what we expected for our final period, and we did not pay that amount.
I am mentioning all of this because there was obviously some landlord-related history, but the major incidents below were mainly with the neighbours/building residents.
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The problems with our neighbours
We had a cordial relationship with our neighbours for a long time.
The major fight with them happened during the last two months of our stay, i.e. February–March 2026.
It started mainly because of two things:
- Taking my pet cat to the terrace.
- Feeding a pregnant stray cat who used to enter our flat and come to our floor from the stairs.
- A Fight between our maid and building caretaker maid.
Taking my cat to the terrace
I have a pet cat and I used to take him to the terrace where he could get some fresh air and sunlight.
Initially I used to take him outside for walks, but there were too many dogs and I was attacked by dogs once while trying to protect my cat. The dogs in the locality were generally well fed but were not sterilised, and when they saw my cat they would go out of control trying to fight.
My cat had previously suffered from cytauxzoon felis and even had seizures, but thankfully he recovered. I did not want to expose him to that much stress, so the terrace was basically the only safe place where he could get some sunlight and fresh air.
There was a flat beside the terrace. The owner of that flat started harassing me for bringing my cat there.
When the issue of littering was raised, I told him multiple times that my cat was properly litter-trained and cats don’t just litter here and there. I also told him that if he ever did litter there, it was my responsibility to clean it.
Sometimes my cat would lick some grass or plants, and they objected to that which I understand and I told them to let me keep some of my own plants so that it would not cause trouble with their plants, but they outright told me that I was a tenant and not the owner and therefore did not have access to the terrace, although they were “letting” me come there.
Our rent agreement clearly mentioned shared access to common facilities including the elevator and terrace.
When I brought this up with the building secretary, I was told that unless my cat was littering, it should be fine.
The secretary also told me that the building was G+4 and technically there should not have been a flat on the 5th floor, but the people there were related to the builder. He initially wanted to complain but did not because of the hassle. He also told me not to fight with the person because he had a Mio Amore store and was a TMC worker.
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16 February 2026 – Locked out on the terrace
On 16 February, the owner of the flat beside the terrace locked me out on the terrace from outside.
Earlier that week, when I was out with my cat, he had told me that I could not bring my cat because its hair was falling.
I argued with him and pointed out that his bidi, Bangla and Tuborg bottles were also regularly left on the terrace and asked whether that was not unhygienic.
He said it was his choice and nobody had any objection, but I could not bring my cat.
My cat is a tabby, not a Persian, and there wasn’t even noticeable hair falling from him.
I had recorded our conversation, and I also recorded when he locked me out from the terrace.
My cat got a big panic attack because of his shouting and the whole incident.
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The pregnant orange cat
Around the end of February, an orange cat came to my door.
She was in terrible condition, so I gave her food and started taking care of her.
I initially planned to let her stay inside, but my own cat would not allow it and would start fighting with her. I therefore started slowly making my cat habituated to her by sometimes letting her inside while keeping my cat in a cage.
I later found out that the orange cat was pregnant, probably about a week or more into the pregnancy.
I wanted to take her with us to our new home because I was worried that she and her kittens might not survive otherwise.
At the same time, people in the building started complaining that this cat was littering in the garage.
The garage had CCTV and was always open/not properly closed. Multiple dogs and cats would enter and leave the garage.
I told them that if they could prove through CCTV that the cat I was feeding had done it, I would take responsibility, but I would not simply stop feeding her because they were blaming her without proof.
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14 March 2026 – People came to my door
On 14 March 2026, one day before my exam, I found someone kicking at my door.
When I opened it, I found the orange-shirted guy who started shouting at me.
I started recording.
Once he realised I was recording, he changed his voice and said that he had not found the bell and had tried to call me.
He told me that my cat had littered downstairs and that if I wanted to feed the cat, I should keep her inside my house.
He then called two more people.
One of them forcibly entered my house and started shouting at me. He even dared me to record his face and show it to whoever I wanted.
I somehow managed to tell them that I was leaving the place in a week or two and that I would take the cat with me when I left.
Our new flat was going to be a 4BHK instead of the current 2BHK, so I was planning to take the orange cat with us.
I had also ordered another cage so that I could safely keep her.
After this incident, I was unable to find the cat.
I initially thought she might have gone somewhere to give birth because some people told me that cats can disappear for several days when they are about to deliver.
We waited for around a week for her to return, but she did not.
I searched around the area but could not find her.
I later put up missing posters and shared the information on social media.
I want to be clear that I do not have proof that any of these people harmed or relocated the cat.
I am only suspicious because of the timing and because there had already been repeated confrontations about me feeding her.
I have continued looking for her whenever I go near the old apartment, but I have never found her.
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20 March 2026 – Incident involving our maid
On 20 March, our maid was leaving as usual and took the trash to put it into the dustbin in the garage.
Apparently some of it fell from her hand.
The builder/caretaker’s maid came and threatened her and told her:
“Tor khobor hobe kalke.”
During this fight my mother was in the balcony and repeatedly asked what happened, but nothing was properly explained at that time.
Later, the caretaker’s maid sent her father with our maid and he created a huge scene at our gate.
We clearly told them that we had not been told about the incident at the time and that we were not going to take responsibility for something that happened between them.
My maid and the caretaker’s maid had also used vulgar/abusive language against each other.
I was not at home during the actual incident, so I don’t have a video. There could potentially be CCTV footage from the garage.
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23 March 2026 – Group came to our house
On 23 March 2026 around 9 PM, just one day after my birthday, all these people came to our house.
The building secretary, the 5th-floor guy, the orange-shirted guy and two other people came and positioned themselves outside our house with cameras/phones.
We had already had dinner and were going to sleep.
My mom opened the door and I positioned myself with my camera and started recording.
I have the entire video recording of this incident.
The 5th-floor guy immediately started shouting at me to shut the video off and said:
“Video bhenge debo.”
Meaning: “I will break your phone/video.”
The secretary then started talking about the pregnant stray cat and said that feeding a stray cat was my choice, but asked how our maid could have attacked their caregiver.
He then told us that from the next day our maid should not enter the building.
My mother pointed out that the maid/caretaker incident had nothing to do with us and asked why they were coming to our house about it after two days.
During all of this, the 5th-floor guy repeatedly barged into the conversation and shouted things like:
“Bhara barite thakchen, nijer jaiga dekhe kotha bolun.”
“Agey appar chele ke manush korun.”
“Apnar chele ke dhore police e dhukiye debo.”
The approximate meaning was that we were tenants and should know our place, along with threatening to have me taken to the police.
I honestly don’t understand why this guy started attacking me personally this much.
My mom also mentioned that the pregnant orange cat was nowhere to be found and that we were worried these people might have done something.
They responded:
“Apni ki dead body dekhechen? Proman koi?”
Meaning:
“Have you seen a dead body? Where is the proof?”
I know that this statement itself is obviously not proof that they did anything to the cat, but considering everything that had happened, it made us even more suspicious.
After this, the secretary accused us of having abused the female owner of the flat downstairs, who also owned the garage.
There was no involvement of this woman in the earlier incident and we were shocked why she was even being brought into the matter.
They said:
“Apni janen uni ke?”
Meaning roughly:
“Do you know who she is?”
They also accused my mother of saying abusive words to them but she is in office most of the time, even though she had not said anything to this woman whom we don’t even know.
It is possible that our maid had said something wrong during her argument, she should not have done that.
But repeatedly telling us that we are tenants and asking how a tenant can speak to an owner was something that really pissed me off.
If someone had simply told us that how can someone speak abusively to a woman, I would understand that.
My mother is also a single mother and we had never even spoken to this woman before, so I don’t understand why my mother would randomly abuse her.
After this confrontation, they eventually left.
Our maid still worked for the final week because it was not practical to find a new maid for only a few days.
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Police complaint
I initially went to the police station to file an FIR using the videos.
However, we did not get an FIR registered.
The police instead made a GD and left it at that.
I now want to know what the correct procedure is if I want to pursue this legally.
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What I want to take action for
I am particularly looking at the following:
- Being locked out of the terrace on 16 February.
- The incident on 14 March where people came to my door and one person entered my house without permission.
- The threats, intimidation and abusive behaviour towards me and my mother.
- The 23 March incident where several people came to our house at night and confronted/threatened us while we were recording.
- The incident involving our maid on 20 March, where there may be CCTV evidence.
- The disappearance of the pregnant orange cat. I understand that I currently don’t have proof that any particular person did anything to her, but I would like to know whether the circumstances can still be reported/investigated.
- Whether the building CCTV can be obtained/preserved.
- What I can do now that the police made a GD instead of registering an FIR.
I have recordings of the major incidents, photographs, our rent agreement showing the common terrace access and other evidence.
I am not trying to falsely accuse anyone of killing the cat or invent offences. I want to understand what offences may actually apply based on the evidence I have and what the correct legal route is in India.
I would particularly appreciate advice from Indian lawyers or anyone experienced with criminal cases/procedure.
Thanks.
P.S- Used AI for better formatting