Mumbai: Four booked for cheating couple to the tune of ₹1.2 crore in guise of giving MHADA house

The Kalachowki police have booked four persons for cheating a couple of ₹1.2 crore on the pretext of getting them a MHADA house in 2020. One of the four accused already has a cheating case registered against him and is in Arthur Road Jail.

The complainant in the case is 33-year-old Dipti Chavan, a resident of Sewri. After she registered a case, the police found out that others too had been cheated by the suspects.

The Chavans planned to sell their house and buy a bigger one in the same area. Real estate agent Jagdish Palande, an accused in the matter, lured them with an offer from parties who wanted to sell their houses received as compensation from the government in lieu of land acquisition for road widening. The couple found the deal genuine as they were asked to either pay through money order or cheque.

Palande introduced the Chavans to Prashant Mistry, Manali Mistry and Sunil Pawar. The couple was shown several files of people interested in selling their compensation houses. They were introduced to one Namdev Rane, a resident of Mahim, who was to get a house at Khapridev Co-op Society in Parel. A price of ₹80lakh was quoted and Chavans were asked to pay ₹40 lakh in advance through cheque.

The couple even signed an undertaking at Bhoiwada court with rights of Rane’s Mahim house being given to them. When they pointed out that the house for sale was in Parel, they were told that the undertaking would be submitted to MHADA and the house would be transferred and shown in Parel. They were later pressured to pay the rest of the amount. However, on being questioned over the delay, the suspects promised returning the money and gave a dud cheque.

On approaching the Kalachowki police to register a case, the couple found out that another buyer, Sneha Walunj, 51, had also been cheated by them of ₹25 lakh on the pretext of a similar deal. The total amount of fraud in their name is close to ₹1.2 crore. The suspects have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.