Nirmal Lifestyle’s Dharmesh and Rajeev Jain refused bail

Dharmesh, 55, and his nephew Rajeev, 50, both directors at Nirmal Lifestyle Limited, were arrested by EOW Housing Unit 2 on April 30 after orders from Nishit Mishra, joint commissioner of police, EOW. The two were produced before the court on Wednesday, where additional chief metropolitan magistrate M S Bade remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days.

Mumbai: A metropolitan magistrate court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of real estate developers Dharmesh and Rajeev Jain, who were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in a case of allegedly duping 34 flat buyers of ₹11 crore. The agency has decided to seek the duo’s further custody in another ₹44-crore cheating case involving 54 home buyers.

HT Image

Dharmesh, 55, and his nephew Rajeev, 50, both directors at Nirmal Lifestyle Limited, were arrested by EOW Housing Unit 2 on April 30 after orders from Nishit Mishra, joint commissioner of police, EOW. The two were produced before the court on Wednesday, where additional chief metropolitan magistrate M S Bade remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days.

The Jains submitted that they had settled their issues with several complainants, and showed the court the consent terms executed with 29 home buyers, saying that they had refunded 20 percent of the amounts and that the remaining amounts would be paid as per the consent terms.

Immediately after the two were remanded to judicial custody, their counsel also applied for bail, citing the consent terms. “However, we opposed the bail pleas, saying that there were three First Information Report (FIRs) registered against the duo and others for cheating more than 700 house buyers,” said advocate Pritesh Burad, who represented the investors’ group and argued on their behalf as an intervener. “The amount runs into crores. The Jains are influential and powerful people and if let out on bail, will try to influence witnesses and even threaten flat buyers. They have settled the disputes with only a very small group and a lot of flat buyers are remaining.”

The FIRs were registered in 2022 by the EOW. Home buyers from different Nirmal Lifestyle projects, including Olympia, Panorama, Spirit and Amethyst, had filed complaints with the EOW, and the police conducted a detailed preliminary probe before arresting the Jains. The Nirmal Lifestyle group has been facing financial constraints for some time, which has led to the stalling of many of their housing projects in Mulund and Kalyan.

According to the data published by MahaRERA on its portal on Wednesday, as many as 28 different projects registered by the group with the Authority are currently facing insolvency proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal. The RERA registration of several of these projects has lapsed. Some projects are still ongoing but with less than 50 per cent of the construction work complete, thereby trapping several home buyers.