High court refuses to restore bail to builder arrested for duping flat buyers

The Bombay high court (HC) last week dismissed a plea filed by city builder Gurunath Phondekar of Vaidehi Akash Housing, who was arrested by the economic offences wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police in 2017 for duping several flat buyers, challenging cancellation of bail granted to him

The Bombay high court (HC) last week dismissed a plea filed by city builder Gurunath Phondekar of Vaidehi Akash Housing, who was arrested by the economic offences wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police in 2017 for duping several flat buyers, challenging cancellation of bail granted to him.

The builder had moved the high court challenging the magisterial court order, contending that a drastic step of cancelling his bail should not have been taken on the mere failure of complying with a condition. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to EOW officials, the builder had agreed to undertake a slum rehabilitation project at Andheri and had accepted considerable amounts from buyers of flats, even receipt of commencement certificate from the planning authority. Later, the society removed Vaidehi Akash Housing after noticing that the project had not progressed at all.

On August 14, 2017, the magisterial court granted bail to the builder as he claimed to have settled the matter and agreed to deposit ₹174.49 crore – the amount involved in the purported cheating.

Later in January 2018, he moved the court for modification of the bail order, contending that the settlement amount was ₹85.90 crore and not ₹174.49 crore, as mentioned in the bail order. Acting on his plea, on January 11, 2018, the additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) court modified the bail order and reduced the amount to be deposited by Phondekar to ₹85.90 crore.

Two months later, he filed yet another application and sought further modification in the bail order. This time, he claimed that he had undertaken the redevelopment of four societies and expected to make a profit of about ₹1,419.59 crore – indicating that he had assets much more than the total liability and requested the court to create a charge of ₹85.90 crore on his properties – the balance floor space index (FSI) of the four societies – instead of compelling him to deposit the amount in court.

Accordingly, on March 20, 2018, the court modified the bail order and ordered him to create a charge on his “properties.”

The ACMM court on October 1, 2021, cancelled bail granted to Phondekar after the investigating officer of the case pointed out that he had misled the court and he did not own any balance FSI in the four societies.

The builder had moved the high court challenging the magisterial court order, contending that a drastic step of cancelling his bail should not have been taken on the mere failure of complying with a condition. He urged high court to grant him a breathing space of a year to deposit the amount. A single-judge bench of justice Nitin Sambre on November 15, rejected his plea, noticing that he did not deposit the amount although chances were given to him even during the pendency of the plea before the high court.