Mumbai: Five persons were booked for cheating four members of a family of Rs92 lakh on the pretext of giving them a luxurious house in Borivali (E).
The main accused, Ravindra Jain, had promised to sell the complainants a house in a redevelopment project in 2011. However, he failed to deliver it.
A case was registered against Jain after the complainants approached the Borivali metropolitan court and police were ordered to register a First Information Report (FIR).
In 2011, the complainant siblings -- Abhishek (34), Hitesh (36), Shailesh (33), and Rakesh (38), were looking for a bigger apartment as they were falling short of space.
Ravindra, who is a distant relative of the complainants, approached them and claimed he was in construction business. “Ravindra said he and his partners -- Kiran Rawal, Abhay Bhandari, Satish Punamia and Sanjay Punamia, were constructing several towers in the city and would also redevelop their chawl, at a good price.
He promised to give them an entire building for residential purposes, while the other building he promised to develop for commercial purposes,” said a police officer.
The accused produced fake tenancy documents, no objection certificates (NOC) and other forged authorised letters, which showed the transfer of legal rights to win their confidence.
Later, the accused made the complainants sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and accepted the token money, after which they issued receipts to them, said police.
Apart from the victims, other homebuyers too had paid a significant amount to the accused hoping to buy flats. The Jain brothers who had booked total five flats for their family were assured that the construction shall start soon and the possession will be given as early as possible.
Four years later, in 2015, when there were no signs of construction on the plot, the complainants visited the place and discovered that the land belonged to a trust and not SRA and also the trust-owner had no connection with Bhandari and his accomplice.
However, when the construction never began and the siblings realised they were duped, they approached the Borivali metropolitan court. Last week, the court ordered the police to register an FIR.
Police are now ascertaining how much money has been amassed by the accused persons. A case of cheating, forgery was registered and further investigation was underway, the officer added.
