Mumbai Police Nab Husband of IPS Officer in Multi-Crore Real Estate Fraud

MUMBAI: After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Surat police, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police arrested Purushottam Chavan (53), the husband of an IPS officer, on Tuesday. This arrest was in connection with a massive real estate fraud where Chavan and his nine accomplices conspired and, under the pretext of availing flats at throwaway prices under government quota, duped 19 victims of Rs 24.78 crores.

The Mumbai EOW took Chavan's custody from Arthur Road jail. He was produced before the 37th Metropolitan Magistrate court and was remanded to police custody until May 26. While seeking his custody, police stated that they wanted to recover the fraud amount and also interrogate him to determine how he managed to procure 20 government stamps and whether any government officials helped him.

According to the FIR registered at Colaba police station on Thursday, complainant Kedar Degvekar, a businessman from Sion, said he was introduced to Purushottam in 2019 through common acquaintances. In January 2020, Degvekar was offered a 3 BHK flat at the luxury ‘25 South’ project in Prabhadevi for ₹3.5 crore, while the market price was estimated at ₹7-7.5 crore. He was instructed to submit official-looking forms from the Urban Development Department and transfer all payments directly to Chavan’s accounts. Between January 2020 and March 2024, Degvekar transferred ₹3.37 crore to Chavan, believing he was securing a legitimate government quota flat.

In July 2020, Chavan called Degvekar to his residence above Colaba Police Station and had him sign a fake ‘Agreement for Sale’ in the presence of supposed officials. In September 2020, Degvekar was taken to the Thane Sub-Registrar’s office, where he underwent biometric registration, believing it was an official property registration. In March 2021, he was handed photocopies of registration documents, supposedly stamped by government housing officials.

The victim realised he was scammed only after the ED arrested Chavan last year. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Purushottam Chavan in connection with a ₹263 crore Income Tax TDS scam. During searches, the ED found fake property sale documents and alerted the Economic Offences Wing (EOW). The EOW, which has taken over the probe, found that Chavan and his associates fabricated government quota property documents to defraud multiple victims. During the preliminary investigation, it appears that Chavan and his associates allegedly duped at least 19 victims by promising them government quota flats in premium locations like Prabhadevi, Parel, Thane, and Dadar. The accused group allegedly prepared forged documents, including fake registration papers for flats purportedly processed at the Joint Sub-Registrar’s Office in Thane-5, Parel-Sewri area. These documents were presented to the victims as genuine, along with fabricated photocopies and photographs, to support their claims.

The other accused named in the FIR include Prasad Desai, Sanjay Patil, Ganesh Patil, Deepak More, ND Nirmale, Govind Sawant, Shashank Limaye, and Yashwant Pawar, among others. All are believed to have played supporting roles in the fraud.