Sixth fraud case against builder Lalit Tekchandani

According to Malvani police sources, between March 2021 and February 2024, Tekchandani and the Wadhwani brothers gained Shah’s trust and later requested him to invest money in their real estate business promising good returns.

“The three accused claimed that to grow their business they have secured a licence to accept money from others in the open market. And by claiming so they accepted Rs 2 crore from me for three years at a 24 per cent interest rate. However, the accused failed to give the promised interest as well as also did not return the principal amount,” Shah states in the FIR.

“On Shah’s complaint we have registered a case against Tekchandani and Wadhwani brothers under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and further investigating the matter,” said a police officer.

Tekchandani was arrested on January 30 by Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in a housing fraud case, in which the complainant had invested Rs 36 lakh in Tekchandani’s construction project at Taloja in Navi Mumbai. The construction of the project, however, got stuck a year before its deadline in 2017.

When the homebuyers started asking Tekchandani the reasons, they only got vague promises, police said. Hundreds of flatbuyers invested in Tekchandani’s project, but they neither got the flats nor got their money back, the police complaint said.

A few days before his arrest, the EOW had also raided Teckchandani’s residence, office and two other premises in the city.