E-Paper
2 real estate firm directors booked for duping bizman of ₹19.12 Cr
Mumbai: Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has booked two directors – a husband-wife duo -- of a real estate firm for allegedly duping a construction businessman to the tune of ₹19
Mumbai: Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has booked two directors – a husband-wife duo -- of a real estate firm for allegedly duping a construction businessman to the tune of ₹19.12 crore. He was lured by the two to invest money in a redevelopment project on Link Road, Goregaon West.
The complainant was promised high returns on the investment in the project and 40 unsold flats were set aside as security against it. Later, he discovered that the accused had sold 26 of those flats without his knowledge and allegedly pocketed the entire sum.
The EOW has booked Kinnar Nayak and his wife Rita Nayak, directors of Taksha Spaces Private Limited, based on a complaint lodged by Vile Parle resident Atul Patel, 54. Nayak is already in jail in another cheating case, while his wife has not been arrested yet.
Patel, who owns a construction company Atul Projects India Private Limited, was introduced to Kinnar Nayak by a real estate broker, Narayan Bhanushali, a few years ago.
According to the FIR, in December 2017, Nayak visited Patel’s office and informed him that his company was set to redevelop Govardhangiri Cooperative Housing Society on Link Road. However, since the company had run out of funds and could not complete the project, they were looking for someone who could help them with finance.
Nayak requested Patel to invest in their project and promised profitable returns. Patel was also told that as security he would get project management fee, capital investment and interest on the capital investment as well.
Nayak also told Patel that half of the work on the project was done in collaboration with Bharat Infrastructure and Engineering. However, since the company had exited the project midway, Nayak was in need of money badly and proposed to make Patel the developing manager in the project, the police compliant stated.
Patel agreed to Nayak’s proposal and his company invested nearly ₹25.97 crore in the project between November 14, 2017, and November 27, 2020. The complainant’s company received ₹6.85 crore from Nayak’s company, but the balance of ₹19.12 crore still remains to come through.
“The accused has falsely mentioned in the agreement that there are 40 unsold flats in the redevelopment project. Of these, 16 were sold without informing or taking prior permission from Patel before signing the development management agreement and 10 more flats were sold to buyers without informing or taking prior permission from Patel after signing of the agreement. The accused kept the complainant in the dark about the exact status of the flats and sold them for self-gain,” the FIR stated.
Based on Patel’s complaint, the FIR was registered at the MIDC police station in Andheri and the case was transferred to the EOW for investigation.
“Nayak and his wife have been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code,” said an EOW officer.
“We have filed a police complaint as they deceived us and caused us a huge loss. We want our hard-earned money back,” said Patel while speaking to HT.