Trio booked for duping flat buyers of ₹32.5 lakh

The Bhoiwada police have booked three real estate agents for allegedly duping three flat buyers, including a couple, of ₹32.5 lakh, promising them flats in Prabhadevi and Lalbaug

Mumbai: The Bhoiwada police have booked three real estate agents for allegedly duping three flat buyers, including a couple, of ₹32.5 lakh, promising them flats in Prabhadevi and Lalbaug. The accused are identified as Sandeep Bansode, Yogesh Chavan, and Surendra Mohite. Bansode lives in Bhoiwada, while Chavan and Mohite live in Wadala.

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According to police, the complainant, Rupesh Gajanan Mathekar, 42, an engineer in a prominent real estate firm, lived in Cotton Green with his wife Vedika and children. Vedika, formerly a teacher at a Paral-based school until 2021, had been searching for a new house in Mumbai since 2019.

Vedika was introduced to Bansode, a former student of the school and real estate agent, by a colleague. Bansode assured them of finding a flat within their budget and introduced them to partners Yogesh Chavan and Surendra Mohite. The trio showed them a 225 sq ft flat on the 18th floor of a Prabhadevi building priced at ₹25 lakh, as confirmed by a police source.

Impressed by the flat, the couple agreed to pay an initial installment of ₹12 lakh, with the balance due upon receiving building NOC, allotment letter, and ration card. After finalising the deal in January 2019, Mathekar paid ₹13.5 lakh in four installments. They drew up a ‘memorandum of mutual understanding,’ with Chavan and Mohite noted as recipients of a friendly ₹12 lakh loan, witnessed by Bansode, an official said. However, after receiving the money, the agents ceased communication and later cancelled the deal.

Subsequently, the agents offered Vedika another flat in Lalbaug, also priced at ₹25 lakh. Vedika made an initial payment of ₹11 lakh and later another ₹12 lakh installment. However, this deal too was cancelled. The brokers refunded ₹8 lakh, promising to return the remaining amount soon, which they failed to do, according to a police officer.

In a similar incident, the brokers promised another individual, Shiteetal Parab, a flat in the same Lalbaug building in 2022 and took ₹15 lakh from her. After dodging her calls and messages, they refunded ₹9.75 lakh, but failed to return the remaining ₹5.25 lakh, as detailed in the FIR.

Upon filing a complaint with Bhoiwada police, Mathekar’s application was verified, prompting police to register a case against Sandeep Bansode, Yogesh Chavan, and Surendra Mohite under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC, added the officer.