PUNE: Former corporator Prachi Ashish Alhat, her husband Ashish Alhat, and two others have been booked by the Kalepadal police for allegedly cheating a doctor of ₹24.2 lakh under the pretext of securing a Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) amenity space plot on a 30-year lease.
The complaint was filed by Dr Mahendra Dhondiram Survase, 39, a paediatrician residing at Neco Beaumont, Nyati Estate, Mohammadwadi, against Prachi Alhat and Ashish Alhat, both residents of Alhat Vasti; Chintamani Kurne, a resident of Mohammadwadi; and Asif Sheikh, a resident of Mangalwar Peth.
The police said that the alleged fraud was committed between November 2023 and July 2025 at Vertical Alsennia in Mohammadwadi and the Alhat residence.
According to the FIR, Dr Survase runs Orchid clinic on the Undri-Hadapsar Road. One of his patients, Kurne, along with his wife, frequently visited the clinic for their child’s treatment. During these visits, Kurne allegedly introduced Dr Survase to his friend Ashish and claimed that Ashish’s wife, Prachi, was a former corporator who could help Dr Survase obtain a PMC amenity space plot for setting up a hospital.
Kurne and the Alhats allegedly told Dr Survase that builders were required to leave certain portions of land for amenity purposes and that such spaces were often leased by the PMC to medical professionals for use as a hospital on a 30-year term. They further claimed that a similar plot near Dr Survase’s residential complex in Mohammadwadi was available, for which a payment of around ₹25 to ₹26 lakh would be required, the FIR stated.
{{/usCountry}}Kurne and the Alhats allegedly told Dr Survase that builders were required to leave certain portions of land for amenity purposes and that such spaces were often leased by the PMC to medical professionals for use as a hospital on a 30-year term. They further claimed that a similar plot near Dr Survase’s residential complex in Mohammadwadi was available, for which a payment of around ₹25 to ₹26 lakh would be required, the FIR stated.
{{/usCountry}}Believing them, Dr Survase and his associate, Dr Rameshwar Pathade, visited the Alhats’ residence where the accused reportedly showed them documents suggesting that the PMC had granted amenity space leases to other hospitals. Convinced by these claims, Dr Survase paid ₹24.2 lakh in instalments, including ₹2.7 lakh purportedly as GST, the police officials said.
The complainant later realised that no such lease process existed and that the accused had deceived him. Despite repeated assurances that the work was in its ‘final stage’, the promised lease and documents never materialised. When Dr Survase demanded a refund, the accused allegedly avoided him.
Following Dr Survase’s complaint, the Kalepadal police registered a case under sections 3(5), 318 (4) and 316 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to cheating and criminal conspiracy. PSI Prashant Ashok Latapate is investigating the case further.