3 take ₹13.4cr from Mumbai buyers, fail to deliver flats after 10 yrs, booked

One of the accused is the cousin of gangster Ezaz Lakdawala and was arrested by Mumbai crime branch in March 2020 for helping the gangster in an extortion case

The housing-2 unit of the economic offences wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police have booked three directors of a construction firm, for allegedly cheating three people of ₹13.41 crore under the pretext of selling them five flats in a redevelopment project at Khar. The accused, who are the directors of Hicons Developer Private Limited, failed to deliver the flats to the buyers 10 years after accepting money from them.

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The accused, Nadeem Lakdawala, Rafiq Sheikh and Khalid Vasaiwala, have been booked under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA), based on the complaint of Khar businessman Narendra Narayan Pagrani.

Lakdawala is the cousin of gangster Ezaz Lakdawala and was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch in March 2020 for helping the gangster in an extortion case.

Pagrani, 48, had met the three accused in 2009 through a real estate agent as he was looking to buy flats. He visited the accused’s office for enquiry and was informed by the trio that their company owned five flats at Shubh Hari Darsham society in Khar. The developers said the building was old and was slated to undergo redevelopment. Its redevelopment rights were also with the Hicons Developer Private Limited, the trio had claimed.

“The developers suggested Pagrani to buy these five flats from them instead of buying new flats. They offered him an additional 35% area (on each flat) for free on buying these flats. They also offered the complainant lucrative rate for the flats from the sale component that the firm would get after the society’s redevelopment,” said an EOW officer.

“Pagrani found the deal profitable and informed his sister Sonia Punjabi and her husband Rajesh about it. The three decided to buy flats in the project,” said Sampat Chhawchharia, Pagrani’s lawyer.

“Between 2011-2019 we paid ₹13.41 crore to the three accused after following the due procedure of buying five flats in the project. However, they haven’t delivered a single flat even after 10 years. The accused utilised the amount for some other purposes, and when we demanded our money be returned, they failed to do so and cheated our family,” said Pagrani.

The accused could not be contacted as their mobile phones were found switched off.