19 navy officers cheated of ₹3.13 cr in fraud land deal; 3 booked

In 2019, the trio had set up an office in CBD called Sky Garuda Developers. They advertised that they were selling Non-Agricultural plot at Vindhane village of Uran. The complainant, Sanjeet Kumar Madanchandra Pal, resident of Colaba, had approached the developers after one of his colleagues recommended him.

Navi Mumbai: Three persons were booked on Monday for cheating 19 Navy personnel of ₹3.13 crore by promising them land in Uran in 2019.

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The accused have been identified as Kakasaheb Khade, Vikas Dahiphale, and Mohini Tandale.

In 2019, the trio had set up an office in CBD called Sky Garuda Developers. They advertised that they were selling Non-Agricultural plot at Vindhane village of Uran.

The complainant, Sanjeet Kumar Madanchandra Pal, resident of Colaba, had approached the developers after one of his colleagues recommended him.

Pal, along with Navy officers from Mumbai, met the three directors at the office of Sky Garuda Developers. The accused told them they had purchased a large piece of NA land from the farmers of Vindhane of Uran, which they are developing and selling.

The trio informed that the cost of two acres is ₹13.95 lakh. After that, Pal, his brother, and 15 officers decided to book the plot from their company and paid a total of ₹2.82 crore.

Accordingly, the three called 19 investors to their office and filled in the information on a laptop, saying they were registering the plot online. Later, the pandemic struck, and there was a lockdown in the country. After the lockdown, the trio started avoiding the investors following which they started demanding the money back and the trio provided them with a cheque which bounced.

Later, the 17 investors got to know of two more Navy officers, who were also stuck after investing in the plot, and they approached the police with the complaint of cheating of a total ₹3.13 core. “Due to the amount involved in the case, the case is transferred to Economic Offence Wing, and they are investigating the matter,” senior police inspector Giridhar Gore from Belapur police station said. The accused have been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.