Three men posing as Mhada officers dupe Malad man of Rs 1 crore in the name of ‘private allotment of lottery flats’

In 2019, Pote had introduced Dhuri to Jain as Mhada flats distribution officer class-1, while Bodhale and Jadhav as his assistants.

As per Jain’s statement to the police, the accused persons told him that Dhuri was in-charge of those flats which were lying with Mhada as the lottery winners of those flats failed to submit required documents.

They also told Jain that these flats can be bought in concessional price from Dhuri without lottery system by just giving a letter of intent to Mhada and by also securing an NOC from the actual lottery winner, states the FIR.

Later, the accused set up a meeting of Jain with a few winners of the lottery. Jain liked one of the winner’s flats. The accused then under the name of token and other fee and flat’s price made Jain pay them Rs 1.02 crore in cash.

The accused told Jain that he would get all the payment receipt along with the flat allotment letter, Jain stated.

However, the accused never delivered on their promises. They kept buying time by giving excuses. They even told Jain that as the state government has changed and due to Covid lockdown, the process is delayed.

A suspicious Jain then went to Mhada office and also checked their website to check if such officers work in Mhada. He was shocked to find out that no such officers work in Mhada, said a police officer.

When he asked the four accused to return his money, they ignored him and later also blocked him.

The complainant later suffered from TB disease and didn’t immediately approach the police. After treatment, he recently approached police and filed a complaint.

The Malad police have booked the four accused under relevant sections of cheating, forgery, falsification of documents, etc. and are further investigating the matter. They suspect that the accused may have defrauded others using similar modus operandi.