Mumbai Real Estate Developer Booked for Rs 100 Crore Housing Fraud
The police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Mumbai has taken significant action against a real estate developer and others for a massive housing fraud. On Wednesday, the EOW registered a case based on a complaint filed by a 62-year-old Chartered Accountant, Anil Dron, a resident of Kandivali in Mumbai.
The officials stated on Thursday that the police have registered a case against the real estate developer and others for allegedly defrauding homebuyers of Rs 100 crore by promising flats in Mumbai's Wadala area and diverting the funds for personal use. The complaint was filed by Anil Dron, who alleged that the accused collected the money and failed to deliver on their promises.
The accused, real estate developer Subbaraman Anand Vilaynur, his wife Uma Subbaraman, B P Gangar Constructions, and others, collected Rs 100 crore from 102 individuals in the name of the 'Sky 31' housing project in Wadala (West) since 2018, promising each a flat. However, after collecting the money, the accused allegedly conspired to divert the funds to their personal and other bank accounts instead of using them for the housing project.
The accused also sold one flat to two different individuals after taking money from both, further cheating them. The EOW registered the case against the accused on charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust, and a thorough investigation is currently underway.
In another significant development, the Navi Mumbai police have uncovered a share trading fraud network allegedly linked to cybercriminals in China and Cambodia. The police arrested seven individuals who duped investors of crores of rupees. As a result of this breakthrough, the cyber police have frozen 118 bank accounts across various states in India, securing a total amount of Rs 32.5 lakh linked to the fraudulent transactions.
The cyber crime branch unearthed the fraud while probing the case of a victim who was cheated of Rs 1.07 crore. The fraudsters targeted several victims between September 2 and October 8, luring them into sending money to multiple bank accounts after promising high profits in share market trading through investment advertisements on various social media platforms. They used a fake application to show a large, but virtual, profit on the invested amount, luring the victims to invest larger sums based on the false profit display. The fraudsters later refused to return the victims' original investment.
The police operation, which involved days of intensive investigation across various hotels, resulted in the dismantling of a network connected to cyber fraudsters in China and Cambodia. The cyber police team initially arrested Suresh Talekar (29) and his accomplice Vikas Awhad (30) from Pune. Further investigation revealed that a third accused had met three unknown Hindi-speaking individuals, suspected to be from another state, at a hotel in Mahape, Navi Mumbai, to hand over SIM cards linked to certain bank accounts.
The police inspected 35 to 40 lodges and hotels across Mahape, Sanpada, Koparkhairane, APMC, and Vashi areas in Navi Mumbai. They nabbed five persons from a hotel in Vashi and arrested them in connection with the crime. The interrogation of the accused indicated a direct international link, as three of them were in touch with cyber fraudsters in China and Cambodia via the Telegram app. The main role of the accused was to use an application to forward the one-time passwords (OTPs) generated by current bank account transactions to their handlers abroad.
The police have appealed to people to be cautious of advertisements for investment in the stock market on social media and not to succumb to the temptation of making high profits.
