EOW arrests IPS officer’s husband in ₹25-cr fraud case

The EOW on Tuesday also secured custody of Chavan, who was already under judicial custody in connection with a ₹263.95-crore income tax fraud case, till May 26

Mumbai: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police has arrested IPS officer Rashmi Karandikar’s husband Purshottam Chavan for allegedly defrauding 19 people of ₹24.78 crore by promising them homes at discounted rates under various government schemes. The EOW on Tuesday also secured custody of Chavan, who was already under judicial custody in connection with a ₹263.95-crore income tax fraud case, till May 26, said sources in the investigating agency.

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“We secured a production warrant against Chavan from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) court as the ED had arrested him in the income tax fraud case,” said an EOW officer. “We took his custody from the Arthur Road jail, where was lodged, and placed him under arrest.”

The EOW had, in February this year, registered a case against Chavan and eight others for allegedly defrauding 19 people of ₹24.78 crore by promising them government quota flats at discounted rates. Chavan would claim that the apartments had been released by the state secretariat and their allotment required clearance from the urban development, housing and other departments, said EOW sources.

“Chavan had accomplices who posed as government officials and took victims to property registration offices in Thane, Sewri and Parel, where they prepared fake registration documents to make the scam appear legitimate,” said the officer quoted earlier.

While seeking Chavan’s custody in the case, the EOW on Tuesday told the court that they wanted to find out who had helped him forge property documents and how he had spent the defrauded amount. They also wanted to identify the reasons behind his multiple foreign trips during this period, the EOW said in court.

Chavan’s lawyer told the court that his client had already been arrested by the ED, followed by the Surat police’s EOW, and there was nothing left to probe. Searches have been carried out by all agencies and everything has been seized, the lawyer said.

After hearing both sides, the court granted the EOW custody of Chavan till May 26.

The fraud came to light after the ED arrested Chavan in connection with a ₹263.95-crore Income Tax refund fraud case. During investigation, the ED discovered various property registration documents at his police quarters in Colaba, which were handed over to the EOW.

The EOW registered a fresh case based on the ED’s findings and a complaint by Kedar Dighevekar, 57, who was allegedly defrauded of ₹3.5 crore.

In his complaint, Dighevekar said he had contacted Chavan through friends in December 2019 as he wanted to purchase a flat. Chavan showed him multiple properties including in a posh project in Prabhadevi where he decided to buy an apartment on the 23rd floor. Once he chose the flat, Chavan asked him to fill out an application form, purportedly from the urban development department, and make a payment of ₹3.5 crore for the flat whose market price was around ₹7-7.5 crore. Chavan also arranged a fake registration process at a sub-registrar office in Thane to convince Dighevekar about the legitimacy of the deal and secure payments from him.

In May 2024, after Chavan had been arrested by the ED in connection with the income tax fraud case, Dighevekar visited the Prabhadevi project, he mentioned in the complaint. But he was denied entry by the security guards and informed that the 23rd floor flat he had apparently purchased belonged to a certain Kotak, the complaint stated.

After registering the FIR in February, the EOW also questioned Chavan’s wife and IPS officer Karandikar. She has already filed for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty, financial harassment, incompatibility, her husband’s bipolar disorder, and his concealment of financial dealings.