With the arrest of three persons, the crime detection unit attached to the Kashigaon police claim to have busted a gang which cheated aspiring home-seekers by offering them residential accommodation on a zero rental-heavy deposit scheme.
Notably, the accused floated online advertisements on the platforms of real estate companies offering brokerage-free services for buying, selling and renting out properties. The action followed after a 36-year-old woman who was looking for rental accommodation in Mira Road sourced the number of an estate agent from the online web portal.
The agent not only showed a flat in the Beverly Park area of Mira Road but also introduced her to a person who claimed to be the owner of the property. The woman paid a one-time heavy deposit amounting Rs.9.5 lakh while executing the agreement on a zero-rental scheme.
The owner and both agents promised to hand over possession of the flat on 22, August. However, the trio went incommunicado. Upon enquiry, the woman was shocked to learn that the flat was owned by some other person, following which she registered a complaint at the Kashigaon police station.
The crime detection team led by senior police inspector-Rahul Kumar Patil under the supervision of DCP (Zone I)- Prakash Gaikwad started investigations and on the virtue of electronic surveillance, apprehended the accused identified as-Shahrukh Ahmed (28), Ashfaq Aalam (45) and Ramesh Sharma (37)- all residents of Mira Road.
The police also recovered the money which the trio had swindled from the woman. Investigations revealed that Shahrukh and Ashfaq were serial offenders who had duped several others using a similar modus operandi in Kashimira, Mira Road and Dombivali. Meanwhile an offence under sections 318 (4) (cheating), 316 (2) (criminal breach of trust) and 319 (2) for cheating by impersonation of the BNS-2023 has been registered at the Kashigaon police station against the trio who were remanded to custody.
The zero rental scheme envisages a one-time payment of heavy deposit by the tenant. The deposit is refunded when the leave-and-license agreement comes to an end, provided the property is returned to the owner in its original condition.
The MBVV police have appealed to people to verify the credentials of the agents and the property owner before entering into any type of financial transactions.
