6th FIR filed against private realty firm

MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police has registered the sixth first information report (FIR) against property builders, Laxman and Mukesh Bhagtani of Jaycee Homes Pvt Ltd, for not delivering an apartment in Powai to a buyer who had given a down payment back in 2007. While Laxman and Mukesh are believed to be in Dubai, advocate Sahil Mahajan, their lawyer, said, “I’m not aware of any fresh FIR against the Bhagtanis.”

The buyer, 63-year-old man who lives in Andheri, lodged a complaint with EOW, alleging the Bhagtanis had taken a total of ₹1.18 crore from him for a flat in Powai but never delivered on their promises.

The Bhagtani family is already facing a total of five FIRS for cheating nearly 2,500 home buyers across the city.

The complainant alleged that the Bhagtanis did not have mandatory permissions from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for a Chandivalibased housing project, ‘Bhagtani Krishang’, but fudged documents to show that everything was in order, and convinced him to buy the flat.

He paid over 70% of the apartment’s price, including the registration process fees, in several instalments since 2007 but never got possession of the flat.

Many other home buyers of Bhagtani Krishang had already approached the Bombay high court against the Bhagtanis, seeking a restraining order against a finance company that disclosed that some flats of the project were mortgaged with them by Jaycee Homes in 2015. The housing unit of EOW lodged the complaint against Laxman, Mukesh and Dipak Bhagtani (who is already in judicial custody) under relevant sections of IPC and Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA).