Mumbai: The sessions court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to builder Ashit Doshi in the case registered at Antop Hill police station for his Sion Koliwada redevelopment project. The court questioned his intentions and said he has not come with clean hands and has no money to return to buyers. The court also noted that the probe so far has revealed that Doshi was left with no funds to carry out the construction.
Court Slams Builder for Misusing Buyer Funds
Sessions judge Satyanarayan R Navander said, “Doshi collected huge funds from innocent buyers and used them for own purposes. He assured to compensate the informant, got the matter referred to mediation, but the move revealed to be a tactic to avoid arrest. Hence, he cannot be given protection of law.”
Doshi was booked on the complaint of Kartikeya Shah, whose family had booked two flats in ‘Zeus Residency’ for Rs1.45 crore and Rs2.17 crore. It is claimed that till 2013, when the construction began, the family had paid Rs40 lakh for both the flats. On May 6, 2013, Shah’s family received a reminder from Doshi to make further payment but they told him that there had hardly been any progress at the site.
Subsequently, Shah learnt that a stay order had been issued, due to which the project could not proceed. Besides, he further learnt that Doshi had misappropriated the funds collected from buyers. A case was lodged on March 3, 2025.
Builder Says Dispute Is Civil, Not Criminal
Doshi has claimed that the dispute is civil in nature and no criminality can be attributed to the transactions. He further claimed that the amount paid was less than 10% of the price of the flats, hence there was no occasion to execute sale agreement. It was claimed that one of the bookings was cancelled and Rs10 lakh was refunded to the Shah and his family. The plea was opposed by the prosecution, claiming that there are around 29 complaints lodged by flat purchasers against Doshi.
The court noted that when the plea was heard twice, Doshi had expressed willingness to settle the dispute by mediation, which failed and the plea was finally heard on November 6. The court noted, “By giving false assurances, the applicant induced the buyers to part with their money, which he misappropriated. Such acts amount to deception and constitute the offence of cheating. The issuance of demand letters falsely indicating progress in construction and seeking further payments also amounts to fabrication of documents. Thus, there exists sufficient prima facie material to proceed on the criminal side.”
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