Wife gets husband’s illegal construction razed in Virar

According to the complainant, Rima Mhatre, mother of two, her husband has been cheating her as well as innocent flat buyers who invested over ₹70 lakh in the project which was illegally coming up at the Vikas Nagar area in Virar East

Mumbai: Not worrying about the consequences, a 34-year-old lawyer stood up for what’s right by reporting her husband’s illegal construction activities on land reserved for a government office in Virar.

Wife gets husband’s illegal construction razed in Virar

On Saturday, the collector of Vasai-Virar took cognizance of her complaint and issued instructions to demolish the tower being constructed on the land.

According to the complainant, Rima Mhatre, mother of two, her husband has been cheating her as well as innocent flat buyers who invested over ₹70 lakh in the project which was illegally coming up at the Vikas Nagar area in Virar East.

“Since 2019, I had been telling Kiran (husband) to stop the illegal activities on the plot belonging to the Revenue Department, but he did not pay heed. When I realised that flats had been sold before the tower was even constructed, I approached the municipal corporation,” said Mhatre.

She further added that her husband and his brothers had even removed a board put up by the government indicating the allocation of the land, but the brothers had cast it aside and began construction of a tower and had even started selling the flats in the illegal project.

The woman, whose father was an architect and was killed by the land mafia two decades ago, said that she could not tolerate illegal activities and hence decided to persist in her efforts.

“When my complaints to the departments did not get any response, I approached the collector at Palghar and submitted the documents about the 1.67-hectare land where one floor has already been constructed at present,” added Mhatre.

On October 13, the collector registered an FIR against six people including Kiran and his three brothers for forging documents and cheating people by selling flats constructed illegally on land belonging to the government.

After conducting a preliminary inquiry and being satisfied that the plot was indeed government land, the Collector ordered the illegal construction to be demolished on Saturday.

When contacted Virar police officers said that they are investigating the case and would arrest the six accused identified as Kiran Mhatre, Hemant Mhatre, Rajesh Mhatre, Dilip Mhatre, Chandrakant Bangal and Hitesh Parmar, “We have booked the six and are recording their statements at present,” said a police officer.