Mumbai: A sessions court has rejected anticipatory bail for 30-year-old Sainath Mhatre, a resident of Belapur, who is under investigation for his alleged involvement in a major property fraud case involving forged documents.
About The Case
The case stems from a complaint filed by Elrade Almeida (also referred to as Alred Almeida in some reports), a Malad (West) resident. Almeida claimed that between September 2006 and June 2025, several people conspired to cheat him out of valuable land in Valnai village, Bo rivali (Survey No. 36). An FIR was registered on August 22, 2025, after initial verification. Investigations revealed that the land was fraudulently taken over using forged papers to secure building permissions, followed by illegal construction.
The property was falsely shown as belonging to one Balwant Nath Vishwanath, who supposedly bought it from Almeida’s uncles and aunts. Signatures were allegedly forged to create fake documents in Vishwanath’s name, after which it was transferred to builders for unauthorized development. Key suspects include companies and individuals such as M/s Mural Builders and Developers (shareholders Mohd. Akhtar Mohd. Isaq Shaikh, Ketan Patel, Sagar Patel, Vimal Patel), M/s Master Civil Construction (partners Manoj Rawat and family), Shamsuddin Qureshi, and others.
Mhatre’s role came to light as he is the son-in-law of the main accused, Manoj Sawant (legal heir of Vishwanath). Sawant is accused of forging documents to claim the property from Almeida's family and then handing it over to builders. Mhatre denied any involvement in the forgeries. However, the prosecution pointed out that Mhatre and Sawant shared a joint bank account with multiple suspicious transactions. The court observed a str - ong prima facie case, the clever modus operandi, and the applicant's conduct. It ruled that these factors prevent granting anticipatory bail.
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