EOW books landowner for cheating developer in Mumbai

MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has booked a property owner on the complaint of a developer who has alleged that the owner of the property in Dahisar made a development agreement for a joint venture and made him construct 40 to 50 percent of the construction and as the land prices went up, the land owners without termination of the existing agreement, engaged some other contractor and without handing over the developer his shares of investment, incurred him a loss of Rs 18 crores.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) last week registered an FIR with the Dahisar police and have booked Kishore Pukhraj Jain ,his wife Usha Kishore Jain, his Nephew Aditya Ramesh Munot and other partners of Kishore Metal and Wire Industries under the IPC section of cheating.

The complainant, developer Dharmesh Soni, stated that he learned about a plot in Vaishali Nagar, Dahisar village, owned by Kishore Metal and Wire Industries, through a common friend. The proprietors, including Kishore, his wife, and nephew, were looking for developers interested in a joint venture. Soni visited the plot with his architect and, after meetings, decided to develop the plot in a joint venture with Jain. The 2,000 square meter plot situated at Dahisar gaothan is worth Rs 25 to 30 crores.

They signed a development agreement in 2016, which approved the construction of a ground plus 2 Podium with a 20-storey building on the plot.

According to the FIR, the original owner of the plot (Kishore Metal And Wire Industries) was solely responsible for obtaining the necessary construction permits for the said Building and maintaining them from time to time. The building was to be completed within 30 months." Soni appointed contractor Shantilal Patel to develop the plot.

Between 2016 and 2018, Soni constructed almost 40-50% of the building as promised, but Jain never obtained the further CC for the building. He constructed ground plus two podiums and three floors and was about to start the fourth floor when Jain asked Soni to stop the work.

Soni also received a stop work notice from the BMC, and Jain asked Soni to quit the project. Soni alleges that without providing him with his share of flats as per the development agreement, paying him the expenses incurred for the cost of construction, or canceling the development agreement, Jain appointed another local contractor, causing Soni a loss of Rs 18 crores.

In 2020, police had booked Jain for selling and registering one flat to two different people in the same project.