₹20-crore cheating case: 2 retired Indian Air Force personnel surrender in Navi Mumbai court

In 2017, the Khandeshwar police registered a first information report (FIR) against Tarachan Prasad, 55, and Deepak More, 53. Their anticipatory bail was rejected by the Bombay high court (HC) in February.

Two retired wing commanders of the Indian Air Force (IAF), who allegedly cheated around 400 homebuyers, mostly from defence backgrounds, of ₹20 crore, surrendered before the Panvel court on Monday. The court remanded them in judicial custody.

According to the police, the accused along with another retired wing commander, S Sharma, 59, started a real estate company in Bangalore. (HT image)

In 2017, the Khandeshwar police registered a first information report (FIR) against Tarachan Prasad, 55, and Deepak More, 53. Their anticipatory bail was rejected by the Bombay high court (HC) in February.

“They then approached the Supreme Court (SC), which too rejected their bail pleas. On July 30, the SC asked them to surrender in court within a month,” said a police officer from the economic offence wing (EOW).

According to the police, the accused along with another retired wing commander, S Sharma, 59, started a real estate company in Bangalore. In 2013, they announced that they had roped in a well-known builder for a housing project at Vihighar village in Panvel and took 20% of the property price as booking amount from buyers.

“The next four years, they fooled homebuyers by updating them about different approvals, but were unable to start the project. In 2017, they told the buyers that the builder was unable to start the project due to a dispute with villagers and that the builder was responsible for returning the money,” the officer said.

Some homebuyers then filed a complaint against the directors of the company and the builder, Shailesh Dawda, 50, who was arrested in 2017. A few months later, they arrested Sharma.

Ujjal Bhattacharya, a resident of BARC who invested in the project, said, “In 2013, More came to Anushakti Nagar promising us houses. The project had not materialised until 2018. When we approached him for our money, he directed us to the builder.”