Malad resident booked for duping Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik of ₹7.66 crore in land deal

A Malad resident has been booked for cheating Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik of ?7.66 crore in a land deal. The cheating took place between February 5, 2021, and July 25, 2023. The resident had taken money from Sarnaik but did not repay the loan or complete the deal. An FIR has been registered against the resident under sections 420 and 406 of the IPC. Sarnaik claims that the resident had not cleared bank dues amounting to ?1.8 crore.

MUMBAI: A Malad resident was booked on Wednesday for allegedly cheating Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik to the tune of ₹7.66 crore in a land deal. According to the Kashimira police officers, the cheating took place between February 5, 2021, and July 25, 2023. Police officers said that Sarnaik wanted to purchase land of 3,030 square meters along Ghodbunder Road in Thane for which he had approached the owner of the land, identified as Martin Alex Bernard Korea, a resident of Chincholi Bunder in Malad West.

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The complainant, Shivaji Nale, Sarnaik’s employee, told the police that Korea had taken ₹4.16 crore from Sarnaik in instalments after executing an agreement to sell the land. He said the Shiv Sena legislator from Thane also paid an additional ₹3.50 crore to Korea’s tenants but he did not repay the loan taken from Citizen Co-op Bank and also did not complete the deal and refused to transfer the property in the name of the legislator.

The Kashimira police said that based on the statement given by Nale, they have registered an FIR against Korea under sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code. “We are in the process of verifying the claims of Nale and checking the transaction between Sarnaik and Korea,” said a police officer from Kashimira police station.