Mumbai: 15 years on, but yet to get their dream homes, 143 flat buyers duped of Rs 80 crore, EOW books builders
According to police complaint, in the first case, Ashit Doshi and Manish Shah of Zeus Housing and Construction, along with other directors of the company, sold four flats at Zeus Residency project in Sion, Antop Hill, to a Mahim resident for Rs 67.50 lakh.
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The builders failed to complete the construction work within the stipulated time and allegedly misused the buyers’ money for personal gains, defrauding the buyers, the FIR states. (File)The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has registered two separate cases of housing fraud, in which 143 flat buyers were allegedly duped of nearly Rs 80 crore by builders. The accused builders allegedly accepted payments 11 years ago but are yet to deliver the promised flats. The EOW has charged the builders and directors of the respective real estate firms with cheating, breach of trust, and violations under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act.
According to police complaint, in the first case, Ashit Doshi and Manish Shah of Zeus Housing and Construction, along with other directors of the company, sold four flats at Zeus Residency project in Sion, Antop Hill, to a Mahim resident for Rs 67.50 lakh. They sold flats to 75 buyers in total, collecting Rs 66.80 crore from them between 2013 and 2024.
The builders failed to complete the construction work within the stipulated time and allegedly misused the buyers’ money for personal gains, defrauding the buyers, the FIR states.
“The builder has even missed the RERA deadline. He has been dragging the project since past almost 15-years leaving behind the home buyers to suffer. In reality around 200 families are affected,” said Prasun Johari, secretary, Zeus Residency Association.
After prolonged delays, the affected buyer’s association lodged a complaint with police. The Antop Hill police station registered the case and transferred it to the EOW for further investigation.
In the second case, Jitendra Bhrahmbhatt alias Jitubhai Barot, director of Sahajanand Enterprises and MNP Associates, has been charged with deceiving 68 flat buyers of Rs 13.05 crore. In May 2006, Bhrahmbhatt collected payments from Amzad Arbani, 46-year-old businessman from Andheri (West) and 67 other individuals for flats in Prathmesh Phase-4 project in Andheri (West).
The builders accepted over 20 per cent of each flat’s total value and issued allotment letters but never registered the agreements. They breached the buyers’ trust by diverting the funds for personal gain, causing financial losses to the buyers, according to the FIR.
After realising that the flats would not be delivered, the buyers demanded refunds, but the accused failed to return their money.
The accused builder claimed that the money he received from the home buyers was actually loans and he is ready to return it to the home buyers. He is doing so as the real estate market prices have sky rocketed all this years, Arbani said.
After the accused builders disowned their responsibility by saying they are no longer developing the project the affected buyers then filed a complaint with police.
Many victim buyers are senior citizens who put their lifetimes savings in the project, Arbani said.
EOW officials are gathering documents related to the sale of flats in both the cases. They are also reaching out to banks to obtain details of the accounts used by the builders to allegedly divert funds, an EOW source said.
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