The police have booked 11 people for allegedly cheating several home buyers to the tune of ₹2.50 crore after promising them low-cost houses constructed by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in Andheri.
The complainant, Vile Parle (East) resident Chetan Jaygade, has also named members of political parties and some unidentified officials of the MMRDA in the FIR.
Jaygade told the police that he was introduced to one Navin Singh Gorkha from Goregaon (East) through a retired policeman in October 2019. Gorkha claimed that he was associated with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He issued an advertisement stating that his firm was offering low-cost houses at Chakala in Andheri (East) for ₹12 lakh. Buyers would initially have to pay ₹4 lakh in cheque and ₹5 lakh in cash, and the remaining amount would be paid after the possession, the complainant said.
Accordingly, Jaygade transferred ₹3.60 lakh on October 13, 2021 to the firm through a cheque and the remaining money was paid in cash. Some of the victims sold their gold ornaments to arrange the initial payment while some others borrowed money at higher interest rates, a police officer said.
After sometime, Gorkha started ignoring the investors. In December 2021, some of them met him at his Goregaon office and questioned him about the allotment of houses. Gorkha then issued allotment letters, but when the home buyers examined the documents, they found them to be fake.
Subsequently, the complainant and others found that there was never such a housing project by the MMRDA and the accused had fraudulently taken their money to spend on his lavish lifestyle, the FIR said.
Gorkha even gave a written assurance to the investors that he would return their money. But when that did not happen, a complaint was filed at Vanrai police station.
“Gorkha used the name of a senior NCP leader and said the project was being completed through him. According to victims, he also claimed to be an NCP officer-bearer. They have also named members of some other political parties and MMRDA officials. We are verifying their claims. No arrest has been made yet,” Rajesh Nandinath, senior inspector of Vanrai police station, said.
On Thursday, a case was registered against Gorkha and his 10 associates under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.