Developers booked for cheating homebuyers of Rs 52 lakh
Kurar Police have booked four men for allegedly cheating home buyers of Rs 52 lakh by promising a flat in an SRA building at Malad. The accused quadruple had sold flats to at least 10 home buyers and took Rs 3.52 lakh from each of them in cash while the remaining was to be taken on loan.
However, when the builders denied possession of the flats despite the project being ready, the investors approached police and lodged a complaint.
The complainant, Pradeep Maurya, 49, a banker, learnt about an affordable housing project in Malad, and showed a keen interest in the same. When Maurya went to meet the developer, M/s Bhola Sai Developers at their office along with a colleague, Balkrishna Ghadigaonkar. The duo met Akhilesh R. Singh, who gave them a brief about the SRA project, which offered a flat of 269 sq.ft. for Rs 16.32 lakh. Singh later told the complainant, they need to make a downpayment of Rs 3.52 lakh and the rest can be availed through a loan.
Maurya and Ghadigaonkar found it a lucrative deal and paid Rs 50,000 each on the spot, while the other Rs 3.02 lakh was paid in a series of cheques and demand drafts, till August 2016, for which they got a rough receipt without the letterhead. Meanwhile,
Maurya kept getting an update for the construction and was in constant touch with Singh.
The housebuyers had already made the down payment, but the developers were not initiating their loan procedure, which was very fishy. As a result when Maurya and Ghadigaonkar decided to question Singh about the same, he directed them to the developer- Mahendra Jain, who promised them that the project will be ready soon. They were joined by other investors, after which they learnt that a total of Rs 52 lakh was paid just in form of downpayments.
A few months passed by, but there was no development in the loan procedure or the possession. Subsequently, the other stakeholders of M/s. Bhola Sai Developers Suresh Jain and Kirti Jain had to intervene, wherein they too made fake promises, which failed to see light of day. Four years after the project was started and the homebuyers failed to get possession of the flats, they approached Kurar police station in Malad and lodged a complaint against them, said investigating officer, Manoj Chalke of Kurar police station.
Chalke said, Singh, Mahendra, Kirti and Suresh Jain have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating, common intention. Meanwhile, police are investigating the matter and are yet to make arrests.