“Probably one of the reasons the arrested accused could allot flats to non-existent people and sublet the flats illegally without being caught was because most of the residents here hardly interact with those staying in the locality,” said Alam Baig a resident of central government quarters at Antop Hill.

Baig added, “Where is the time to enquire whether a person staying nearby is a genuine central government employee or an illegal tenant. Moreover, when a new family moves into a flat it would hardly be polite to go up to them and ask whether they are genuine allottees.”

When asked if he was aware of the scam Baig said, “There was no way we could have known about such a thing. It was when we saw and read the news about the CBI arrests that we got to know about the scam. After that there have been teams of police officials who have visited our locality and to check the documents of all the residents.”

Baig was not the only one unaware of the scam. Another resident from the locality said on condition of anonymity, “Even if we have doubts about some residents; who will take the step to complain against them. We have enough problems in our own lives to worry about.”

However, Umesh Thadji, a youth in his twenties was aware of the happenings in his neighbourhood. “We know that this kind of illegal allotment has been taking place for the past 7-8 years. From the work timing and other details it becomes obvious whether a person is a central government employee or not.” However when asked about whether he took any steps to notify the authorities about illegal subletting, he said, “We did not take any steps to notify anyone as we did not want to get involved in this.”