Magistrate court rejects bail plea of Kamla Mills’ owner Ramesh Gowani

Mumbai court rejects bail for Kamala Mills owner Ramesh Gowani, accused of cheating businessman of ₹67.50 crore, deeming charges serious.

MUMBAI: The Esplanade magistrate court last week rejected the bail plea of Ramesh Gowani, the owner of Kamala Mills, arrested for allegedly cheating a Khar-based businessman of ₹67.50 crore, stating that the charges levelled against him are serious.

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The general cheating unit of the Economics Offences Wing of the Mumbai police arrested Gowani on July 9. According to the investigating agency, Gowani had purchased a plot from the complainant, Surjit Singh Arora, in 2013 to develop the latter’s land in Khar Danda, Santacruz.

The accused took the land for re-development and promised to pay him ₹20 crore along with commercial properties and flats amounting to a total of ₹67.50 crore. However, after a confirmed conveyance deed was executed in 2016, Gowani did not pay the consideration amount to the complainant. Further, the businessman came to know that out of the promised ten flats, Gowani had sold seven flats to third parties and mortgaged one to a finance company.

According to the EOW, Gowani did not give any flat or commercial property to Arora, following which the latter approached EOW. The prosecution submitted that the charges levelled against the accused are serious in nature, due to which he should not be granted bail.

Gowani denied the allegations regarding misappropriation of property while claiming that he paid an amount of ₹4.7 lakh and handed over a flat worth ₹7.5 lakh to the complainant. He further added that the complainant had failed to clear all the dues and grievances of slum dwellers, due to which Gowani’s right to develop the land was terminated by the slum rehabilitation authority. Further, it was submitted on his behalf that the matter was purely civil in nature and the case was being a criminal angle to arm-twist him.

After taking note of the arguments, the court observed that Gowani had committed a breach of trust and releasing him on bail might affect the investigation. “Thus, at this stage, the points raised by the learned advocate for the accused of grant of bail cannot be taken into consideration,” the court stated.

Gowani is the owner of Kamala Mills in Lower Parel which houses many corporate offices and restaurants. He was earlier arrested in December 2017 for the fire at Kamala Mills, which killed 14 people. However, he was later discharged from the case by a court citing lack of enough evidence to charge them.