Bhopal: EOW Registers FIR Against Three For Selling Reserved Flats

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Economic Offences Wing, Bhopal on Tuesday registered an FIR against the proprietors of a real estate firm for illegally selling off flats and the land which were reserved in the name of Municipal Corporation. The firm has come up with a residential project in the Kolar area. 

Dilip Bachhani, Harshita Bachhani and Priya Harplani have been booked for fraud and other relevant sections of IPC following investigations, EOW officials said. The complainant Ashish Srivastava, founder member of the Aadhar Reality Firm, in his complaint alleged that his other partners Dilip Bachhani and Harshita Bachhani sold the flats reserved for the municipal corporation at their residential project-Aadhar Symphony to one Priya Harplani.

Officials said that as per the conditions applied at the time of granting permit for the project, 25% of the total number of flats were to be reserved in the name of municipal corporation for future development of the colony and for construction of EWS/LIG homes for lower income groups.

As per the deed signed in January 2014, in all 47 flats were reserved for corporation, which was reduced to 45 in a revised deed signed in 2017. In the first phase, the firm sold 115 flats while leaving one acre of land and the proposed reserved flats for the second phase of the project.

However, in November 2022, the reserved flats were also sold to Harplani, in violation of the deed. A probe by EOW revealed that Harplani purchased the flats despite having knowledge that they were reserved in the name of Municipal Corporation.

Both parties not only violated the rules but even failed to construct flats for the lower income groups as per the agreement. The flats were sold at market rates which affected the government’s scheme of providing residential facilities to the poor. Municipal Corporation officials confirmed that no permission was sought for selling the reserved land.