Roopa said Shafana married a bank employee in 2012 when she was studying at Uttara University, but they separated when she was pregnant.
After this she started living with her father and brothers. Roopa said that she was mentally unwell, used to get sick from time to time. Shafana also had a stroke.
More complications emerged after the death of Shafana’s father in 2018.
His mother and other brothers had moved from the building to Banani last August.
The 4,000 taka garage rent was Shafana’s only source of income. One of her brothers living abroad used to send her money, but Shafana refused.
The neighbors were not happy with him for not paying the service charges.
Abdur Rehman, the building’s security guard who has been working there for several years, said a young man used to bring groceries for Shafana and her daughters, but no one came to the flat for 15 days.
The employees of the electricity distributor disconnected the electricity connection of the flat on February 1 as she could not pay the bills.
Asked why the neighbors didn’t help her, Rahman said: “She has a mother and brother. They are the owners of the place. If they don’t do anything, what should we do?”
The guard said that the cost of the flat would be around Rs 15-20 lakh. Each flat had two bedrooms with balconies, a drawing and a dining room. Locals said that an apartment of a little over 1000 square feet in the area costs around 10-15 million taka.