HC orders DGP to probe lack of action against builder who duped flat buyers of ₹78 crore

Bombay High Court orders Director General of Police (DGP) to investigate the lack of police action against directors of a construction firm who duped flat buyers.

MUMBAI: Taking serious note of the lack of police action against two directors of a construction firm who duped around 11,500 flat buyers of at least ₹78 crore, the Bombay high court (HC) has directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to conduct an enquiry into the “apathetic” approach of the investigating officer of the case registered at the Naupada police station in Thane.

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The division bench of justice AS Gadkari and justice Sharmila Deshmukh has directed the DGP to furnish the report of the enquiry to be undertaken through a senior IPS officer in four weeks. The bench issued the order after noticing that the investigating officer of the case registered at the Naupada police station had not taken any steps and also failed to answer court queries regarding the progress of the probe.

The judges were irked to note that the FIR at the Naupada police station was registered way back in February 2022, but no concrete steps had been taken by the police and the accused were not arrested. “Record clearly indicates that the investigating officer has not taken any pains to investigate the crime though it is of a serious nature and hundreds of persons have been duped,” said the bench.

“He could not inform this court as regards the steps taken to attach the properties (of the builder) though the provisions of MPID Act were applied,” said the bench, adding that, “The conduct of the investigating officer speaks volumes and with great reluctance, we have to note that the interests of the accused persons are being protected rather than the interest of victims of the crime.”

In view of the lack of action against the accused persons, the judges inferred that the police machinery was protecting the accused persons, and the lackadaisical and apathetic approach of the concerned investigating officer required through the highest authority of the department - the DGP.

The FIR at the Naupada police station was registered on February 17, 2022, based on a complaint lodged by flat buyer, Sachin Mhatre, a Navi Mumbai resident, who has a transport business. Mhatre had lodged the complaint on behalf of himself and six others who had booked flats in the Karm Garden project at Ambernath being developed by Karrm Infrastructure Pvt Ltd.

In his statement to the police, Mhatre said that they had booked the flats in 2013 and according to their agreements with the builder were supposed to get possession of ready flats by December 2014. Since the construction work was going slow, they were told by the firm that they would get possession of the flats booked by them by June 2015.

He said after the due date, he and several others who had booked flats in the Karrm Garden project visited the site and found that the construction work was halted completely. When they visited the firm’s office, they were only told that the work was halted because of some technical reason, but it wasn’t restarted thereafter.

The seven flat buyers, therefore, approached the police and lodged a complaint through Mhatre, who claimed that at least 180 others had also invested in the firm’s Ambarnath project and all of them had been duped by the builders. Based on his complaint, the Naupada police have booked the firm’s directors Ramakant Jadhav and his brother Namdev Jadhav and two others who worked for them.

Apart from the Naupada police station, FIRs are registered against the firm and its directors for duping flat buyers at the Shahapur police station in Thane district and the Saphale police station in Palghar district.