Former deputy mayor booked for cheating and forgery

The Nerul police are on the lookout for former deputy mayor Ashok Gawade in a cheating and forgery case in which he is accused of being involved in an illegal transfer

The Nerul police are on the lookout for former deputy mayor Ashok Gawade in a cheating and forgery case in which he is accused of being involved in an illegal transfer of two flats.

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According to the police, the complaint was registered by Kaustubh Kulkarni, who lives in the United States of America. Kulkarni claimed that in 2006, a woman posing as his mother obtained share certificates of their two flats in Shree Ganesh society in Nerul. Gawade is the chairperson of the society.

The alleged forgery came to light in April when Kulkarni’s father passed away and he learnt that someone named Santosh Taware is staying in the flat claiming to be the owner.

“We have lodged an FIR against Taware and Gawade based on the complaint. We had sent summons to Gawade but he managed to abscond from his Nerul apartment. We are on the lookout for him,” said Rajendra Chavan, senior inspector at Nerul police station.

Gawade unsuccessfully contested on an NCP ticket from Belapur in the 2019 Assembly elections and lost to BJP’s Manda Mhatre. He was elected deputy mayor of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation in 2012.

Gawade has been booked in two cheating cases registered at Nerul police station in 2016.