The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted pre-arrest bail to city builder and former MP Akhtar Hasan Rizvi, 90, of Rizvi Land Development, who was booked for cheating a family who had invested in his project in Kalina, which was initiated by the company’s former director, thelate Abis Rizvi in 2012.
Rizvi assures to deposit Rs6 crore
Justice Anuja Prabhudessai granted relief to Rizvi following an affidavit by him assuring that he would deposit Rs6 crore in the high court.
On Monday, the high court directed him to file an affidavit providing a schedule of payment to be made.
Senior advocate Rajiv Chavan, appearing for Rizvi, submitted the affidavit before the court. Chavan said that Rizvi would deposit Rs3 crore within a week and the remaining within two weeks thereafter.
Rizvi had approached the HC after his pre arrest bail plea was rejected by the sessions court.
The case so far...
A complaint was filed by one Junaid Khan, a Bandra resident, claiming that they had invested a sum of Rs5.6 crore for commercial office premises but after years realised that the project had been converted into a residential complex.
Rizvi sought protection from arrest stating that due to old age, he was not active in day-to-day business of the company and that his son Abis was handling it. Abis was killed in a terror attack in Turkey in 2017 and only then was he informed about the financial transaction.
According to the complainant, he and his three brothers had booked four commercial office premises measuring a carpet area of 4,000 square feet on the sixth floor in the building for a total sum of Rs5.6 crore. They also claimed to have paid Ra2.8 crore as advance to book the place. However, the construction of the project had not even commenced on March 1, 2017. When Khan followed up with Rizvi, they were assured that possession of the properties would be soon handed over to them.
Later, he realised that Rizvi Land Development had been merged with Rizvi Estates and Hotels and that Rizvi Corporate Park was now changed into a residential scheme.
He then registered a complaint with the Vakola police on November 8, 2017.
Following negotiations, Rizvi agreed to reserve and allot four 3-BHK flats in the residential complex. The complainant claimed that as per the terms of negotiations, they had to pay the balance of Rs1.4 crore when the building was to be ready. However, he alleged that in March 2020, they received a letter for payment of Rs70 lakh for each flat (totalling Rs2.8 crore) claiming that it was inadvertently mentioned the balance payment of Rs1.40 crore in the letter issued for settlement.
Additional public prosecutor Rhishikesh Pethe opposed the plea contending that the accused had sold those flats to other persons.
