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Man sets up land grab from army

Hindustan Times | BySamar Halarnkar and Rahul Singh, New Delhi/ Mumbai
Oct 26, 2010 02:11 PM IST

A retired junior defence estates officer, once charged with corruption, coordinated the takeover of a south Mumbai army park that is now a 31-storey super-luxury building — cleared on the condition that it would be a six-storey structure housing war veterans and widows — in one of Asia’s costliest swathes of real estate. Samar Halarnkar, Shailesh Gaikwad and Ketaki Ghoge report.Graphic: Money matters

A retired junior defence estates officer once probed for corruption coordinated the takeover of a south Mumbai army park that is now a 31-storey super-luxury building on one of Asia’s costliest swathes of real estate — cleared on the fake condition it would be a six-storey structure housing war veterans and widows.

India’s defence ministry is now struggling with a request from its Western naval commander to investigate the repeated subversion of various laws that eventually allowed Ramchandra Sonelal Thakur to become general secretary of the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society within the bounds of the Colaba Military Station in south Mumbai’s Cuffe Parade, where flats sell for Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000 per sq ft.

The flats, including the land, cost the society and its members Rs 26 crore. The market value is anywhere between Rs 500 to Rs 800 crore. The society got an occupation certificate last week.

“There is very big money, and very powerful people involved,” said a highly placed source in the defence ministry, refusing to be quoted given the sensitivity of the case. “Frankly, it is going to be very difficult to probe the complaint (made earlier this year by the admiral heading the Western Naval Command in Mumbai), but we are perusing it.”

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