5 HELD IN KDMC RERA SCAM, NO BUILDER AMONG ARRESTED

THANE: In a major development in the RERA certificate scam case where 65 builders were booked, the Special Investigating Team (SIT) has arrested five persons, including a woman, who helped them prepare fraudulent documents for acquiring the RERA certificates and build illegal structures in Kalyan-Dombivli vicinity. However, none of the 65 developers are arrested.

“The accused will be produced before the Kalyan court on Saturday. There are builders, contractors and land owners involved in the case. Total nine accused were identified, however, out of that four have died, the remaining five have been arrested,” said a SIT officer.

After the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) lodged a complaint, a total of 65 developers were booked by the Manpada and Dombivli police station. The cases were then transferred to the Thane crime branch and a SIT was formed to investigate the case.

Those arrested have been identified as Priyanka Sitaram Raorane (Mayekar), Pravin Tamhankar, Rahul Baburao Navsagare, Jaydeep Tribhuvan and Kailas Gaode. “They are all from Dombivli, they created the fake documents for illegal construction,” added the officer.

The scam came into limelight after a city-based architect Sandeep Patil through RTI and PIL in the HC in 2021 highlighted the fraud by the builders followed by which the civic body lodged an FIR.