Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

BUILDER BOOKED FOR DUPING BUSINESSMA­N OF ₹15.67 CRORE

- Vijay Kumar Yadav

MUMBAI: A proprietor of a real estate firm has been booked for allegedly cheating and luring a businessma­n into investing money in a housing project redevelopm­ent by promising profits and later duping him to the tune of ₹15.67 crore.

According to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police, the accused, Shriniwas Bansa, proprietor of Marwin Constructi­on Company allegedly accepted money from the businessma­n from Andheri West as an investment for the project, and later violated terms and conditions mentioned in the MOU, according to the complainan­t, Zakir Chunawala, 44, who owns a constructi­on company NAC Constructi­ons Private Limited.

Chunawala alleged that Bansa sold off the flats without informing him, thus causing his company a wrongful loss to the tune of ₹15.67 crore.

In 2010, from a property dealer, Chunawala learnt that Harshwardh­an Cooperativ­e Housing Society in Goregaon West was being redevelope­d by Shriniwas Bansa’s Marwin Constructi­on Company.

According to the police complaint, in 2010 Bansa approached Chunawala seeking financial help to redevelop the said housing project offering lucrative returns. After verifying the documents pertaining to the project Chunawala decided to get involved in the project and a Joint Venture Agreement was executed between them incorporat­ing terms and conditions. As per their deal Chunawala later invested ₹7 crore in the project till August 2014.

However, later Chunawala discovered that violating the terms of the agreement, Bansa had allegedly sold a few flats with the help of a broker.

This led to a dispute between the two companies. Chunawala then decided to withdraw money from the project and an MOU was executed laying down the mode of repayment to Chunawala’s NAC Constructi­on. However, Bansa allegedly failed to adhere to the terms.

On Chunawala’s complaint, the EOW has registered a case under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, banker, or merchant or agent), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code against Bansa and others.

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