Patna, Oct. 2: A dispute between two relatives over a plot of land in the Frazer Road area on which a four-storeyed apartment has been built left its residents panic-stricken for over 17 hours, as the district administration locked its main gate.

The officials locked the gate of the apartment around 6pm yesterday. After spending a sleepless night, its residents heaved a sigh of relief when the gate was partially opened today around 11am.

The residents of the 16 flats in the Aparajita Keshav Kunj Apartment were suffering from an uncanny fear till late this evening, fearing they might be asked to vacate their home. The incident spoilt their Puja plans, too.

Most of the residents of the apartment moved into their flats last year. A case was filed over the land dispute between the two relatives in 2003.

K.P. Singh, the landowner, blamed his nephew for the sufferings of the apartment residents. “I am an 80-year-old man and childless. My nephew has taken advantage of this and he is pestering me for no reasons. He did not inform the court about the people residing in the apartment. He wants to kill me and usurp whatever I have,” Singh said.

Udayan Mukherjee, a retired bank employee and a resident of the apartment, said: “The dispute is between Singh, the land owner, and his nephew, Parimal Singh. Some district administration officers came last (Saturday) evening around 5.45pm and sealed the main gate showing an order of the court. We were not even given the opportunity of getting out of the building. The officers, including the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) and the subdivisional officer, behaved rudely when we requested them to seal the gate partially so that we could go out in emergency. Last night we had a nightmarish experience.”

Archana Jha, another resident of the apartment said, one of the residents — Neelu Singh — is expecting. “She can deliver anytime. The authorities were told about the same but none of them listened to our plea.”

Jha said: “The court order regarding sealing the gate was issued on September 29. The authorities were given a 48-hour deadline to carry out the order. Why wasn’t any notice was given to the residents of the apartment? What would have happened if Singh had to be taken to a hospital last night? I spent the entire night in tension.”

Not just Jha or Singh, all the residents of the apartment could not sleep last night.

This morning, around 11, the district administration authorities resurfaced to open the gate partially.

“A small gap has been created so that the residents of the apartment can pass through it. It was a court order and we had to comply with it. With people living in the apartment, a direction to leave a gap of two-feet between the gates was passed this morning,” said Patna Sadar SDO M. Alam.