21 fall for ‘cheaper’ Mhada flats, lose ₹2.3 crore; cops book six

The accused have been identified as Sunil Ghatvisawe, his wife Sujata, Prashant Jadhav, Babita Bhangare, Ravi Shivgan and Sarasvati Lokare.

Mumbai: Six people were booked for allegedly duping 21 people of ₹2.30 crore under the pretext of getting them Mhada flats in Century Bazar, Prabhadevi.

“To gain my trust and that of the other buyers, the accused took us to Prabhadevi and showed us the flats in Century Bazar Mhada Colony in Prabhadevi. Later the accused also took us to Mhada’s Bandra East office. There, our biometric details were collected. We had no reason to raise any doubt on Ghatvisawe’s intention,” said one of the victims (Image for representation)

The accused have been identified as Sunil Ghatvisawe, his wife Sujata, Prashant Jadhav, Babita Bhangare, Ravi Shivgan and Sarasvati Lokare. The FIR was lodged based on a complaint by Dattaprasad Bait, 39, a clerk in the PWD department.

“In 2017, Ghatvisawe told the complainant that he has a good influence in the Mhada office and offered to get him Mill Worker’s flat in Century Bazar Mhada Colony at a price which is lesser than the market price,” said sub-inspector S Sathe, Dadar police station.

Trusting Ghatvisawe, Bait and 20 other people, including Bait’s relatives, gave a total of ₹2.30 crore to the accused persons between April 2017 to November 2019. To safeguard their rights, the home buyers also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the accused persons which acknowledge the promises made by the accused persons, the police said.

However, they still failed to deliver the flats. Whenever the complainant would ask them about the delay, the accused would ignore them and buy more time by giving excuses.

Finally, when the home buyers realised that they were being duped, they approached the police and filed a complaint on Wednesday.

“To gain my trust and that of the other buyers, the accused took us to Prabhadevi and showed us the flats in Century Bazar Mhada Colony in Prabhadevi. Later the accused also took us to Mhada’s Bandra East office. There, our biometric details were collected. We had no reason to raise any doubt on Ghatvisawe’s intention,” said Bait.

All the victims are project affected people and recently received ₹30 lakh each from a builder. They used this money to get a Mhada flat but were duped.

“The accused persons had accepted money in cash as well as via cheques. The evidence is being collected,” said senior inspector Mahesh Mugutrao of Dadar police station.

“All the victims are poor. We have sufficient proof to show money transactions and also the MoU. We have submitted the evidence with the police and hope for speedy investigation and justice,” Bait said.

“We suspect Ghatvisawe to be the main accused, while the rest accused are beneficiaries in whose accounts the money was received. We have managed to track more than ₹38 lakh fraud money and the investigation is underway,” said Sathe.

The police have booked the six accused under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and further investigating the case.