Two MHADA ‘agents’ arrested

Two men posing as agents for Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority cheated a 55-year-old Parel businessman of Rs 38 lakh by promising him a MHADA flat.

Two men posing as agents for Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority cheated a 55-year-old Parel businessman of Rs 38 lakh by promising him a MHADA flat.

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Identified as Virendra Yadav (60) and Ramchandra Shinde (62), they were arrested on Wednesday, and booked for cheating and criminal breach of trust. “They’ve been remanded to police custody until February 22,” said S A Jain, senior inspector at Kalachowkie police station.

The arrest followed a complaint by Hiralal Gupta (55), a neighbour of the two accused. Gupta who owns a sweet shop, was earlier employed with a private firm. Police said the accused committed the offence in January 2009 and were since on the run. “Following a tip-off, they were picked up from their houses at Parel,” said Sub Inspector Janardan Tarade.

“The two accused offered to get me a house in the MHADA project at Kalachowkie for less than the market rate. Having showed me the flat, they demanded Rs 38 lakh. I paid them by cash and cheque,” Gupta said in his police complaint. “January last year, when my family and I moved to the new house, we learnt the flat belonged to a third party to whom the allotment had been made,” he added.

Police said the accused escaped after getting the money. “Initially, the accused would make excuses and false promises of returning the money soon. Then they vanished,” the officer added.

“Investigations revealed that a case of cheating using the same modus operandi was lodged against Yadav with the Nehru Nagar police station last year,” said Tarade.