Migrant worker kills self after landlord forces him to pay rent

A 45-year-old migrant worker died after allegedly consuming poison at his rented room in Sector 11 early Sunday morning.

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The police said that a suicide note was recovered from the spot in which the migrant worker alleged that his landlord was harassing him for the rent.

In the police complaint, his neighbour also alleged that his landlord was forcibly demanding rent from him. The landlord was later booked by the police for abetment to suicide. The police said that the migrant worker’s family members, who stay in Odisha, have refused to collect his body as they are in a containment zone.

According to the police, the deceased man worked as a plumber in Gurugram and lived by himself. On Sunday, around 6am, his neighbour, who stays in the same building, came to his room to wake him up.

The neighbour stated in the police complaint, “Around 6 am, I went to his room to wake him up. I kept knocking on his door but he did not open it. I got suspicious and then asked our landlord, who stays on the ground floor, to come over and check. When there was still no answer, we called the police helpline number and broke into the room.” He added that the deceased man’s body was lying on the floor and there was an empty packet of poison next to it.

“Two days ago, he (the victim) had told me that the landlord was troubling him and forcibly demanding rent from him. He was stressed and killed himself by consuming poison,” the complainant stated in the FIR.

Ajit, assistant sub-inspector (ASI), Shivaji Nagar police station, said that the deceased man would pay around ₹6,000 as rent. “The preliminary probe suggests that the victim owed around ₹30,000 to his landlord as rent. He was a plumber and was not able to get work because of the lockdown. We have registered a case against the landlord and he is yet to be arrested. We are investigating the matter.”

A case was registered against the landlord under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Shivaji Nagar police station on Sunday.

In April, the Haryana Government had issued directions stating that landlords should not demand house rent for a month from migrant workers, students and paramedics in rural areas of the state. In the order, the authorities had said that if any landlord was found forcing such tenants to vacate, they would be liable to face strict criminal action. On March 29, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued an order asking landlords to stop demanding rent from students, workers and migrant labourers for a month.

Despite the measures taken, tenants continue to face harassment from the landlords with repeated warnings. In April, at least seven landlords were arrested and booked for forcibly demanding rent from tenants in the city.

The police said that they have kept the deceased man’s body in the mortuary and have contacted his family. However, they have refused to come to Gurugram and collect the body.

“The man’s relatives said that he had run away from home around 30 years ago. Since then they have rarely talked to each other. On Sunday, when we informed them about the incident, the relatives said that they can’t afford to come to Gurugram,” the ASI said.

The man’s relatives alleged that he had called them on April 3 and informed them that he was having financial issues and was not able to pay rent.

“He rarely called us. The last time he came to visit us was 10 years ago after he met with an accident. He did not even come for his father’s funeral. Recently, he called us and said that he wanted to come home as he was facing financial issues. We told him that he could come, but would have to stay in quarantine for 14 days as Gurugram and Delhi have a large number of Covid-19 cases. We can’t come to collect his body as we are living in a containment zone and do not have enough money for the travel,” one of his relatives said on the phone. He added that they are trying to trace his wife and children and would ask them to collect the body.

“The man had informed his family that he was married and had children. But the relatives said that they never got an opportunity to talk to them and have no information about them. We are trying to persuade the family members to come to Gurugram,” the ASI said.