Railway engineer duped of ₹30 lakh by real-estate agent

Real estate agent booked for duping WR engineer of ₹30 lakh by promising SRA flat. Police investigating. Accused gave fake papers, accepted cheques.

Mumbai: The Andheri police on Sunday booked a real estate agent for allegedly duping a junior engineer working with the Western Railway (WR) of ₹30 lakh under the guise of providing him with a flat in an SRA (Slum Rehabilitation Authority) building.

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The accused, Pintu Gupta, had allegedly promised the complainant, Amit Painter, 46, that he would get him a SRA flat with the help of SRA functionaries via the lottery allotment. Gupta allegedly gave the complainant fake papers of a purported flat and accepted money from him through cheques. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Mangesh Shinde said, “The First Information Report was registered on Saturday and further investigations are on”.

According to the police, Painter wanted to buy a house in the Vile Parle/Andheri area, so Gupta introduced him to two other agents — Harish Bhat and Aruna Bhat in 2021. The trio allegedly showed him several SRA flats in Andheri and Vile Parle, but nothing was finalised.

Later, in December 2021, Bhat introduced one Sunil Raut to the complainant, claiming that he works in the SRA department and shared his number. Raut contacted Painter that there is a flat in the SRA building at Sunderlal Bhatwadi in Andheri East, and Sacchidanand Bamane is a real estate agent who could fix the deal, said a police officer.

In January 2022, Painter and his wife went to Andheri, where they met Raut, who showed them the flat in the Sunderlal Bhatwadi area and introduced them to Bamane. The couple saw a flat on the 15th floor in an SRA building, and Bamane informed them there are 10 flats in the same building, which would be given as per the lottery system, added the officer.

The total cost of the flat was ₹40 lakh, and the complainant is required to pay ₹5 lakh in advance only through cheques. Raut convinced the couple that he was in the SRA department, so they should not worry. The complainant trusted and gave a cheque of ₹5 lakh in Bamane’s name.

Later, Bamane and Raut met the complainant in the Prasadam Hotel in Andheri, and they gave him a list of SRA Annexure-2, which shows the name of the complainant’s wife, Hemlata Amit Painter at number 42. They also showed an order copy promising his process would be done soon and he would get the flat’s possession in April 2022.

After 15 days, Raut and Bamane started calling the complainant repeatedly, asking him to pay the rest of the money or they would give the flat to someone else. The complainant paid ₹25 lakh in February 2022 through a cheque and said he would pay the remaining ₹10 lakh once he got the flat’s possession. After a few days, when Painter called Bamane about the possession of the flat, he replied that he needed more time, said a police officer.

Painter alleged in his complaint that he called Bamane many times to Bamane, but he always gave excuses, so he decided to cancel the deal and asked him to return the money. Bamane refused to return his money and threatened him saying that if he wanted to take legal action against him, he could, said a police officer.