A Goa real estate couple and eight other landowners were arrested by Mumbai Police on Monday for allegedly duping a Goregaon-based advertising film director of Rs 153 crore by claiming to sell him land for a bungalow.
According to an official at Bangur Nagar police station, the case was filed on the complaint of a 50-year-old advertising film director. Bikram Dev Malhotra and his wife Ritu, along with eight landowners from Goa, have been booked on charges of fraud and breach of trust.
The plaintiff said he came into contact with Malhotras in 2020 through a mutual friend when he was looking for a real estate agent to buy land in Goa for a bungalow.
In November 2020, the Malhotra family, who reside in Bardez, Goa, visited the plaintiff’s residence in Goregaon (West) and shared details of several plots.
According to the police complaint, in December 2020, the complainant visited the Malhotras’ residence in Goa and was shown four plots of land by the couple, of which he liked the Bardez plot and decided to buy it for Rs 8.4 million.
The complainant had given a small amount of money to the owners through the Malhotra family in the form of a cheque for Rs 5 lakh. He also gave Rs 3.25 lakh as commission to the Malhotra family. A memorandum of understanding was also signed in February 2021 in the presence of the landowners, according to the police complaint.
In March 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, all work related to land ownership came to a halt. During this time, Vikramdev Malhotra approached the plaintiff and informed him that four more plots were available for sale in Goa at a cheaper rate. Claiming that investment in these plots would fetch huge profits in the next two to three years, Malhotra urged the plaintiff to purchase these plots, the FIR states.
The petitioner agreed and remitted the money in instalments to the Malhotras to be given to the landowners.
However, the complainant later came to know that the Malhotras had not gone ahead with the transfer of ownership of the land. After waiting for two years, the complainant finally informed the Malhotras to refund the entire amount as there had been no progress in the transfer of ownership of the said land, the complainant stated in the FIR.
Malhotra then gave three cheques of Rs 51 lakh each to the plaintiff in July 2023. However, the cheques could not be processed by the bank as the accounts to which Malhotra and others had given them had been frozen.
After contacting the Malhotras, the victim eventually realised they had no intention of returning her money and filed a police report, who said further investigations were underway.
© Indian Express Ltd.
First uploaded: 28 May 2024 23:14 IST
