India, July 21 -- For over seven decades, Room No 29 in Vakadi Chawl on New Prabhadevi Road has been a second home to the people of Dolegaon, a village in Satara district. A 'gavkiche ghar', or 'village shelter', it is one of many such rooms hidden away in chawls in working-class areas in the island city.

These compact spaces have for decades offered a place to stay when villagers from rural Maharashtra visit Mumbai for, say, work, education or medical treatment - a room built not only with brick and cement, but also on a foundation of collective spirit and deep-rooted trust.

Now, one villager from Dolegaon has broken the code.

Entrusted with the upkeep and redevelopment of the residential unit, he has allegedly sold it to a private co...