The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted searches at nearly a dozen premises belonging to builder Lalit Tekchandani and his associates Amit Wadhwani and Vicky Wadhwani of Sai Consultants in connection with a money laundering case registered against them by the agency. All three were arrested by the Mumbai police last month in different fraud cases. Tekchandani is facing seven criminal cases registered by the Mumbai police. He was arrested last month by the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW).
During a search to establish a money trail and how homebuyers were duped, the ED found several documents related to real estate projects involving Tekchandani, his associates and other builders. One of the projects involves allegedly defrauding buyers in a housing project in Taloja, Navi Mumbai.
Navi Mumbai police too filed FIR
In this matter, the Navi Mumbai police, too, have also filed an FIR. In Chembur, Hira Jadhwani, 64, a watch repairer, filed a complaint saying he lost over Rs40 lakh while buying a 1BHK flat in 35-storey 9- tower Hex City that began in 2000 (later name changed to Clan City) being developed by Tekchandani’s Supreme Construction Developers in Taloja.
Jadhwani was promised that the project would be completed by 2017-18; the construction stopped midway in 2017, though. The second FIR registered in connection with the same housing project pertains to 160 flat owners, who were allegedly duped of Rs44.25 crore. Officials from Mumbai police EOW said that the number of complainants may rise as more homebuyers are approaching the police.
Malad businessman Bharat Shah's name appears in FIR
In addition to these cases, the sixth FIR, filed last Friday, involves Malad businessman Bharat Shah, who alleges that Tekchandani and his co-directors in the real estate company Sai Estate Consultants – the Wadhwanis – defrauded him of Rs3.44 crore with the lure of investing in their business. A few days before Tekchandani’s arrest, the EOW had also raided his residence, office and two other premises in the city
