Third Arrest in Luxury Flat Scam: EOW Nabs Broker, Probes Accused's Mother's Bank Transactions

In a significant development in the luxury flat scam at the Iconic Tower in Bandra West, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has arrested Ajinkya Varadkar (33), a property broker resident of Kandivali. Varadkar was taken into custody after being summoned for questioning by the EOW in connection with the case.

Earlier, the EOW had arrested Abid alias Sameer Ghulam Hussain (43) and Akhtar Sheikh (60) for their alleged involvement in the same offence. The prime accused, Sandeep Babulal Gada, has approached the court seeking anticipatory bail. Notably, the EOW had arrested Gada last year in connection with a ₹50-crore land scam.

During Varadkar’s interrogation, investigators allegedly found two suspicious transactions of ₹40 lakh and ₹90 lakh in his mother’s bank account. Police sources said the EOW is now probing the money trail linked to these transactions.

Hussain, also a property broker, allegedly played a key role in facilitating the preparation of forged documents used to execute the fraudulent sale of the flat. He had earlier been arrested by the Bandra Police in a separate cheating case. The EOW subsequently took his custody from Taloja Central Jail and formally arrested him in the present matter.

According to the case details, the identity of the original flat owner, Alpesh Narpatchand Jain (44), was allegedly forged to illegally sell the property and secure a bank loan of ₹11.35 crore. The fraud surfaced after Jain, a steel trader residing in Girgaon, lodged a complaint. Jain stated that he had legally purchased the luxury flat in May 2023 for ₹6.25 crore. However, during a verification exercise conducted by the housing society, it was discovered that the property had been fraudulently sold using forged documents.

Investigations revealed that an unidentified person impersonating Jain executed a fake sale deed on December 13, 2024, transferring ownership of the flat to Gada. Two days earlier, on December 11, 2024, a fraudulent Power of Attorney had been registered using forged Aadhaar and PAN cards in Jain’s name. Jain clarified that he does not know any of the accused and was not even in India at the time, as he was in Indonesia when the documents were registered.

Further probe revealed that the flat was subsequently mortgaged to obtain a loan of ₹11.35 crore from Utkarsh Small Finance Bank in Vashi, Navi Mumbai. The loan was sanctioned in the name of M/s Oneup Extrusion Pvt Ltd, with personal and corporate guarantees allegedly provided by associates of the purported buyer.

EOW officials stated that the forged documents were prepared and used between December 2024 and August 2025 to illegally register the sale and mortgage the property. Further investigation is underway.