Mumbai: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of city police has arrested a developer for duping 71 homebuyers to the tune of Rs 9.75 crore. The developer has been identified as Satish Ghogari, 43, a resident of Kandivli.
Ghogari is the owner and managing director of a construction firm, Vedshlok Infratech, which had promoted a residential development project in Kanjurmarg East. In 2017, Ghogari issued an advertorial in newspapers about his upcoming project, offering one-BHK flats at Rs 54 lakh each and assured that the project would begin in three months and possession would be given by 2020.
According to the first information report registered at Kanjurmarg police station, the developer had started to accept booking amounts even before construction had begun. Seventy-one people had invested a total of Rs 9.75 crore in the project.
One year later, no construction had begun and Ghogari attributed the delay to financial distress. Panicked buyers began to ask for refunds but he paid no heed. So they registered an offence under the Indian Penal Code Section of cheating (420), criminal breach of trust (406, 409) and he was also booked under the sections of Maharashtra Ownership Flat Act (MOFA).
To evade arrest, Ghogari secured anticipatory bail from the lower court, which was later cancelled by the Bombay High Court as he failed to satisfy the bail conditions of the lower court. The EOW subsequently arrested him from his Kandivli office on Monday. He was produced in court on Tuesday, which sent him to police custody till Friday.
