Mumbai: Housing society takes 35-yr-old neighbour under their wings

Vinayak Kapoor along with his caretakers Dnyanshwar Wade (left) and Uday Soman. Pic/Shadab Khan

Members of a housing society in Borivli are rallying around their 35-year-old neighbour, who is still reeling from the shock of losing his mother earlier this year. The man, identified as Vinayak Kapoor alias Sonu, had been living with the corpse of his septuagenarian mum Bala for several days. The grim discovery was made by his neighbours in the second week of January, when Kapoor stepped out of his fourth floor flat in search of food, and started to beg for biscuits and cold drinks from a shopkeeper in the vicinity. The neighbours, who helped cremate the body, have since been making all possible efforts to provide him medical attention and special care, while keeping the local police in the loop.

Kapoor, a resident of Moreshwar Krupa Housing Society, moved into the neighbourhood with his parents when he was five years old. While his father died eight years ago, his mother developed gangrene, and died in her home in January this year. The neighbours were unaware of this. Kapoor refused to leave her side, until starvation forced him out of the confines of his home. It was his childhood friend's father Dnyanshwar Wade, who spotted him begging at the shop. "I could not figure out why he was begging. Something seemed amiss. I decided to check on him, and rang his doorbell," Wade recalls.

"When he opened the door, the house was stinking and in a mess. I enquired about his mother, and that's when he pointed to her decomposed body, and told me she had passed away." Wade immediately alerted the society office to cremate the body. After the funeral, the neighbours assumed that Kapoor would take care of himself. "But once again, we learnt that he [Sonu] had started begging for food on the road. He had also lost about 20 kg."

Wade started sending him home-cooked food daily, along with some cookies, milk, fruits, and other nutritious items so that he could gain weight. "The milkman also contributed," he adds. Meanwhile, the society office tried to get in touch with his relatives. "Somehow, we managed to get the number of his aunt, who lives in Delhi. We informed her. She and three other family members visited him. In the presence of society office bearers, his cupboard was opened and banking documents, jewellery and other expensive belongings were recovered," he adds.

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Wade says the jewellery was encashed to pay the monthly society maintenance, electricity and cable bills. "Besides this, every month around Rs 20,000 cash was spent on his food, cleaning and sanitation of his flat. Everything is maintained in a diary to keep the expenses transparent," he adds. Security guards, Lal Bahadur Vishwakarma and Shyam Singh, have also been keeping an eye on those visiting him. "No one can take advantage of him," says Vishwakarma.

The MHB Colony police have appreciated the efforts of the housing society, and have made Wade, society secretary Uday Soman and society member Neal Shah, his local guardians. Senior inspector Sudhir Kudalkar of MHB police station said, "We are guiding society members along the way."

The Good Samaritans are currently trying to pool in money for his medical expenses, as Kapoor needs to be admitted to a rehab centre in Nalasopara. The monthly expenditure excluding medicines will cost Rs 35,000 per month. Soman adds, "We want him to return to a normal life. The doctors said that he will hopefully recover within six months."