Mumbai: An assistant administrative officer at the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and a retired police officer were duped by a realtor on the pretext of providing them with a house at a MHADA building located in the Kalachowki area. Both the victims, in total, paid Rs. 68 lakhs for the house which they are yet to get since 2020. The accused is a history-sheeter.
The victim couple - identified as Vaibhavi Harmalkar (45) and her husband Girish is currently residing in Dombivli, but earlier they were residents of Chichpokli and in 2020 they were looking for a house in the Lalbaug area.
After checking with agents and failing to get a house as they expected, they started their search online. They stumbled upon Magic Bricks and a house in Lalbaug which mentioned an agent named Prashant Mistry. They contacted Mistry and told them about their preference and budget.
Mistry called the couple to his office, located at Dr BA Road in Lalbaug for a meet-up. He then showed the couple a flat at Sukhkarta Building MHADA, which they liked.
He first said the price to be around Rs. 70 lakhs, and after negotiations, it was finalized as Rs. 60 lakhs, said the victim in her statement to the police. She added that Mistry suggested that the documents be under the name of her husband’s mother since she has property that falls under the slum road-cutting area.
Mistry also asked them to buy a file from MHADA to make it easier for them to obtain ownership of the flat, adding that it’s all a legal way to do.
As advance payment, the couple was told to pay Rs. 50 lakhs, which they did. After the payment, Mistry along with a man named Ashish Binde came to the victim’s house and handed them some documents that he claimed were obtained from MHADA.
Days later during the COVID-19 lockdown, Mistry stopped giving any updates to the couple and eventually stopped receiving the call. He kept reassuring them about providing the flat, but he didn’t give them the money back or the flat.
The second victim in the case is a retired assistant sub-inspector named Sunil Sawant (56) who resides in Worli Police Camp, like the previous couple, Mistry allegedly showed him a flat in the same building. Sawant ended up paying Rs. 18.5 lakhs in 2020-21, but to date, he has not received the flat or his money back.
The Kalachowki police have registered a case against Prashant Mistry under the charges of section 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery, and 468 (forgery for cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. Mistry, was previously booked and arrested by the Kalachowki police for allegedly cheating another home buyer to the tune of crores of money.
He was arrested and sent to judicial custody but was released on bail. Police officials added that Mistry’s current location is unknown as he has been changing his location frequently since he came out on bail.
