B’lore: Anantaiah Shetty earned Re 1 a day, built palatial house

 

Bangalore, 06 Jun 2013 (TOI): Way back in 1940, AnantaiahShetty, 93, came to Bangalore with his wife, and a few bare belongings. He took up work as assistant in a grocery shop in Chamarajpet, on a salary of Re 1 per day. He preferred to walk the 6-km distance from Banashankari to Chamarajpet so he could save the tonga fare of 2 annas.

 

In the 1960s, he started his own grocery shop in a rented building in Kalasipalya, and sold it in the late 1990s. By then, he had four grown-up sons and two daughters.

 

With his carefully saved money, Anantaiah Shetty bought a 60x80 sqft site in Shakambarinagar, JP Nagar 1st Phase, and built a palatial residential complex.

 

Once his daughters were married, he set up a business for his four sons. Younger sons Suresh Kumar and Girish Kumar started ’SLV Stores’ on the ground floor of their three-storey residential building. When his wife Nagaratna died in 2005, Anantaiah Shetty decided to lead a retired life.

 

But nothing went according to plan. Neighbours say his third son, Suresh Kumar, and his wife Kalpana tortured him.

 

"Suresh wanted his father to transfer the building in his name. When he refused, they would beat him up," alleged Santosh Kumar, a neighbour.

 

"Well into his 70s, Anantaiah regularly visited Tirumala temple. But when he stopped earning, his sons never took him to the temple. Once, a neighbour who knew of Anantaiah’s devotion, gave him a laddu. Suresh had slapped him for accepting the prasadam," said Girija Chandru, a neighbour.

 

Elder son Venkatesh Kumar was upset with his brothers for their barbaric behaviour. "I separated from them in the late 1990s. My brothers Suresh and Girish stopped my father from coming to my home. I didn’t think my brothers were so inhuman. I’ll discuss the matter with my sisters and decide on the future course of action," he told.

 

Chained and left to rot, senior citizen walks to freedom

 

Bangalore, 06 June 2013, (DHNS): A 93-year-old man was rescued by the City police from the terrace of his house near Banashankari Temple where his family had allegedly chained him for the last one-and-a-half years. The nonagenarian was hardly fed, and left to defecate in a narrow open space.

 

Anantaiah Setty was on Wednesday found chained below an elevated platform erected for the overhead tank.

 

H S Revanna, DCP (South), said he was “shocked” to find the elderly man in such an “inhuman” condition. “The space was not secure from the scorching sun, the biting cold and harsh rains. He was simply at the mercy of God,” Revanna said. “The space was stinking as he had been defecating in the open. He was fed in the same filthy place.”

 

Setty, who was later shifted to Jayanagar General Hospital, said his family was “indifferent” to his plight. “They didn’t look after me well. Not a single day in the last 18 months did they give me two square meals. I was left with no option but to beg in the neighbourhood,” he told.

 

The incident came to light when residents of Shakambari Nagar, where the family lives, tipped off a Kannada news channel about Setty. Residents attributed their activism to the rescue of P Hemavathi who was allegedly confined to her house for a decade. The television channel, with police in tow, then “raided” the house.

 

‘Mentally unsound’

As the police team went to rescue Setty, his third son Suresh Kumar and daughter-in-law Kalpana ran up to the terrace, claiming  Setty was mentally unsound.

 

“His condition had not improved even after medical care. He had become a social nuisance. Hence, we chained him,” they said.

 

The police team, however, rescued the man against his family’s wishes. Revanna said the JP Nagar police had taken up a suo motu case of illegal confinement. Kumar and Kalpana were arrested, and released on bail by the 5th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM).

 

Father of four well-settled sons who live in separate houses, and two daughters, Setty said Suresh Kumar and Kalpana chained him on the terrace a year and a half ago. “They would take me in only at night and when it rained,” he added. His son as well as the neighbours, however, claimed he was chained just six months ago. “Setty is incoherent and cannot even speak clearly,” they said.

 

Hope not lost

Setty says he has not lost all hope. He wishes to get adequate medical care and lead a normal life again. A native of Maralavadi village in Kanakapura taluk, Setty is resolute in his decision to not go back to his family. “I wish someone takes me to an ashram in Maralavadi,” he said. “At least I’ll get two square meals a day there.”

 

Doctors at Jayanagar General Hospital say Setty has lost reflexes in his left leg which was chained. He also had a festering wound in the ankle due to the rubbing of chain.

 

Detailed examination

Setty underwent a detailed medical examination and was referred to Jayadeva Hospital for electrocardiography. He was then shifted back to Jayanagar General Hospital. Several tests were to be conducted on him to ascertain the exact condition of his health, a senior doctor at the hospital said. The procedure would take a day.