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Fashion designer booked for cheating builder of ₹20.52 crore
Fashion designer Ulka Chandrashekhar Nair has been accused of cheating a builder out of ?20.52 crore for the redevelopment of her bungalow. The police have registered a case against Nair, who denies the allegations and claims the builder wants to grab her property.
MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has registered a case against fashion designer Ulka Chandrashekhar Nair for allegedly cheating a builder to the tune of ₹20.52 crore.
The police said the designer had offered to redevelop her Versova-based bungalow in 2015 through a Goregaon-based builder and took ₹19 crore for the same. The builder even spent ₹1 crore for documentation and other preparatory works. However, she did not hand over the bungalow to the builder for redevelopment.
Nair, 67, runs several fashion stores in Western suburbs under the name Ulka Creation and also has a non-profit organisation, Ulka Foundation.
According to the police, Nair met Megharaj Jain, director of Mangal Build Home Private Limited, at the Vile-Parle office of his Mangal Royal Jewellers Private Limited. Nair had told him that she has a 1,286.30 square metre plot with a construction of 4,407 square feet.
“Nair told the builder she wanted to redevelop the property as her fashion designing business was not doing well and she had already taken a loan on the property. On October 14, 2016, an agreement was signed by the two parties. According to the agreement around ₹19.35 crore was transferred to the various bank accounts of Nair,” an EOW official said.
As per the agreement, it was decided that Nair will get ₹17 crore plus 3,655 square feet construction and a 19-floor building will come up on the plot with 6 floor podium parking and 13 floors of residential space. A total of 12,184 square feet of construction was to be done of which 8,528 square feet was to go to the builder.
“Accordingly, the builder appointed an architect, consultants and professionals at various levels, carried out soil tests, got civil aviation NOC, CRZ demarking and spent around ₹1.17 crore on the process,” the police officer said.
On March 3, 2021, the building and factory department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) asked Nair to carry out a structural audit of her building. Nair sent it to the builder who got it done from an empaneled contractor who said the structure was 70 years old and fell under C-1 Category and was dangerous to stay. However, Nair carried out the structural audit through another auditor and got a report that the structure can be repaired.
“Nair was supposed to vacate the structure once she got ₹10 crore, as per the agreement. Despite getting money, she did not vacate the structure. She has instead sent a notice to the builder that he did not have a right to carry out the structural audit and she has terminated the irrevocable power of attorney,” the officer added. Nair has been booked for cheating and criminal breach of trust.
Nair denies allegations
“It is a fake complaint as the builder wants to grab my property. I have earned a good name by working for society for the last 44 years through NGO. The builder wants my property and therefore he has forged the documents and even used my photo to get the property. He went ahead and got my structure declared as dangerous so that I would be forced to vacate the property. I am going to show the EOW all my papers. There is political pressure on police,” Nair said.