DNA
 
Mumbai, Oct 12: A senior citizen from Chembur ended his life on Wednesday morning after his repeated pleas to a neighbour to fix a leak went unheard.

The Soubhagya building at Chedda Nagar woke up to disbelief and shock when a building watchman found Appukuttan Nair, 62, hanging from the pipeline of the water tank around 8.20 am.

The watchman immediately informed Nair’s wife and daughter. Meanwhile, other residents informed the police who reached the spot and found a suicide note. In the note, Nair said he was driven to such an extreme step as repeated requests to repair the leak in the toilet ceiling of his house were ignored.

Nair retired as an engineer from Mazgaon Dock a few years ago. His daughter Vandana, 30, is a dentist and his wife Leela, 58, is a homemaker. They’ve been staying in the building for the last 30 years.

Nair was said to be upset for the last few months because despite carrying out a renovation of the flat, water patches had appeared on the toilet ceiling. The occupant of the floor above, responsible for the seepage problem in Nair’s house, and the building secretary did not respond to his requests for a repair, said inspector RL Kulkarni of Tilak Nagar police station.

Building secretary Raman Sheshadri has told the police they had not turned down Nair’s request, but were waiting for MHADA to okay the building repair plans.

In her statement to the police, Vandana has said her father had been anxious about the leakage problem. A suicide case has been registered.