Real estate developer granted pre-arrest bail in ₹52-Cr cheating case

Additional sessions judge NG Shukla granted bail to the accused, Kedar Bhikaji Bapat, and said Bapat had played no role in the deception committed by his firm

MUMBAI: The sessions court has granted anticipatory bail to a 54-year-old real estate developer accused of cheating a Bandra-based builder of around ₹52 crore in a Vile Parle slum rehabilitation project.

Real estate developer granted pre-arrest bail in ₹52-Cr cheating case

Additional sessions judge NG Shukla granted bail to the accused, Kedar Bhikaji Bapat, and said that Bapat had played no role in the deception committed by his firm. The case was registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) accusing Bapat of criminal breach of trust.

According to the FIR, Bapat’s firm, Vijayraj Realtors had an agreement with MM Corporation in 2013, for redeveloping a slum in Vile Parle. Investigators alleged that following the redevelopment, Vijayraj Realtors sold 27 flats and a shop which were a part of the project, and diverted around ₹35 crore to another firm instead of using it for the redevelopment. This left MM Corporation with a loss of nearly ₹52 crore.

In November 2024, Manish Mehta who heads MM Corporation, filed an FIR at the Vile Parle police alleging that the accused had diverted funds and mortgaged assets without his consent. The case was later transferred to the EOW.

Hearing Bapat’s request for anticipatory bail in the case, the court noted that he had joined the firm only in December 2016, three years after the development agreement was signed, and had left in 2021. “The applicant had no role in giving any misrepresentation or false promise to the complainant’s firm in 2013,” the judge said, adding that Bapat’s five-per-cent stake in the redevelopment was limited to the inclusion of floor-space index (FSI) from his own Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project at the Yashodeep Housing Society.

The court order says that Bapat cooperated with the investigation and even gave project-related documents to the EOW. The court held that Bapat’s custodial interrogation was unnecessary, and directed him to “attend the office of the investigating agency as and when called and cooperate in investigation”. The court also asked him to provide details of his and his firm’s bank accounts.