Two MMRDA officials held for cheating and forgery

The Powai police arrested two Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) officers on alleged charges of cheating and forgery on Thursday night.

The Powai police arrested two Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) officers on alleged charges of cheating and forgery on Thursday night.

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The accused, deputy community development officer Pandit Sharma, and his assistant Prakash Swamy, have been remanded to police custody till May 8 after being produced before a metropolitan court on Friday afternoon.

The complainant, Neeta Pant, alleged that her husband, Neelkant, owned property at Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, which the MMRDA demolished for road construction in 2005. They promised 11 shops in Powai to Neelkant, who passed away the following year.

In 2009, Neeta filed an RTI application to check the ownership status of the shops and learnt that five were misappropriated in the name of Neelkant's employee, L Bansode, and six were registered in the name of Neelkant's secretary, Nirmala Jadhav.

Neeta filed a complaint with the Powai police station, following which Bansode was arrested. After the case came up for hearing, a settlement was reached between Bansode and Neeta, and the five shops transferred back to Neeta.

“Jadhav's high court hearing is scheduled for May 8 and she will be arrested as per the court's verdict,” said senior inspector, B Bhosale.