Virar police begin investigating 55 illegal buildings mentioned in seized files

The Virar police are investigating allegedly illegal buildings in the Vasai-Virar region, following the arrest of individuals involved in a real estate racket. The scamsters reportedly used forged documents to register construction projects with the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority. Authorities are now verifying the certificates presented by the accused and will take legal action if necessary. This comes after complaints were received about other illegal buildings in the area. Residents of the affected buildings are living in fear and questioning the responsibility of the VVCMC.

MUMBAI: The Virar police have sought the names and locations of the allegedly illegal buildings referred to in 55 files seized from an accused who was arrested in connection with a recently busted real-estate racket. The scamsters purportedly used fabricated documents to register construction projects with the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA).

Virar police begin investigating 55 illegal buildings mentioned in seized files

The buildings in the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) region will be scrutinised again by various authorities to ascertain whether the documents presented by the accused were obtained by using forged signatures of the Thane and Palghar district collectors and VVCMC town-planners. “We will book the builders if we find this is true,” said Rajendra Kamble, senior police inspector of Virar police station.

All the concerned authorities such as MMRDA, CIDCO, the tehsildar of Virar and revenue officers from Palghar and Thane have been asked to immediately verify the certificates. In June, the Virar police had sent another list of 40 other buildings to VVCMC to verify their legality. “We had received complaints that they were illegal,” said an officer from Virar police station.

Landowner Dilip Benvanshi (31), Machhindra Vhanmane (37), owner of Mayur Enterprises, Dilip Adkhale (40) of Phoenix Corporation, Prashant Patil (33), a partner in Rudransh Realtors, and stamp-maker Rajesh Naik, 54, were arrested on Monday by the police after an FIR was registered following a complaint lodged by Ganesh Patil, the in-charge assistant commissioner of Ward C, Chandansar, about two buildings, Rudransh A and Rudransh B, constructed in the area.

In his complaint, Patil said that the accused had used fabricated documents like non-agriculture permissions, construction permissions, occupancy certificates and search reports by using the forged signatures of the district collectors of Thane and Palghar and the town planner of VVCMC to get the project registered with MahaRERA.

Patil further told the police that the builder had constructed the ground-plus-five-storied buildings without obtaining permission from the competent authority, and, using bogus construction permissions, got over 40 sale deeds registered with two secondary registrars in Vasai. He added that after the civic body noticed that the buildings were unauthorised and sealed the flats in them, the accused broke open the seals and handed over the flats to buyers.

“During the investigation, the police searched the office of Vhanmane, one of the accused, and found documents related to fabricated non-agriculture permissions from the district collector of Palghar, bogus construction permissions from the town-planning department of VVCMC, and such other bogus documents, 22 rubber stamps and letterheads,” said Kamble. A bogus sanctioned plan, bogus commencement certificate and bogus occupancy certificates for Rudransh A and Rudransh B buildings were also seized.

While the VVCMC and police refused to divulge information about the fate of the buildings, their occupants have been living in fear. “I checked the OC and CC certificates, based on which I made the payment and bought the house for my family of 10 members,” said Chhotelal Paswan, a rickshaw driver who stays in Rudransh.

The building, which has 48 flats, wore a deserted look on Wednesday, as all the residents were tense and refused to even open their doors and windows. “I sold my farmland to buy this flat,” said Ashish Gupta, who works in Atria Mall in Worli. “I bought it for ₹17 lakh in 2020 after confirming that the builder had an OC and a CC so that I did not have to live in fear. “Now we learn that the building is illegal. Was the VVCMC sleeping when the construction was taking place?”

Added another resident, “What if someone suffers a heart attack or dies by suicide because of the fear and stress? Who will be held responsible?”