An unidentified man has been booked for duping a city-based developer of Rs1.1 crore after he promised to strike a deal for the 8,100 sq ft Dondhi bungalow worth Rs150 crore at Bandra Bandstand located near Shahrukh Khan’s home Mannat, but siphoned off the money instead.
Wadhwa Residency Pvt Ltd paid token money to the accused last year after he reportedly showed a fake death certificate of the owner and property card documents giving power of attorney to a certain Satish Dhanuka, who he claimed was known to him.
Bandra Kurla Complex police registered the FIR on February 25 after Navin Makhija, director of Wadhwa Residency, learnt several others had been duped of crores in the past in deals involving sale of the plot. The case has now been transferred to the economic offences wing (EOW) of Mumbai police. No arrest has been made so far.
This is the fourth time a cheating and land grab case has been registered for the same bungalow plot that belonged to Dr Farooque Dondhi, who passed away in 2006. In a will left with his lawyer, Vijay Desai, Dondhi has stated the property should be converted into a hospital for the poor through a trust.
Makhija did not respond to calls and text messages on Friday. “Makhija has complained that the accused told him he could help him get the plot for a good price. Makhija paid Rs1.1 crore token money. However, the accused kept delaying the procedure for purchase of the plot. Makhija filed a complaint after he came across news articles revealing the plot had been used to dupe several others too,” said a police officer.
In January, EOW had booked three persons—Shapoor Irani, realty consultant Mahesh Alimchandani and J K Nathani—in another case. EOW officials said Alimchandani is an expert in forging documents and has been arrested in the past. A petition filed by Irani claiming to be executor of Dondhi’s will is pending in Bombay high court. Dondhi’s lawyer, Desai, has filed a complaint stating Irani has submitted fake documents through his lawyer, Nathani.
In 2014, a former Bandra resident, Farooq Motiwala, had also falsely claimed he had bought the bungalow from Dondhi’s siblings. He was arrested in 2016. Motiwala had allegedly submitted a forged sale and registration agreement. A Bandra-based builder, Suresh Jain, had also claimed rights to the property. The EOW probe then showed that Jain, an accused in another land grab case, had told the police that his father Sohanlal had bought the property from Dondhi in 1967 for Rs 60,000. He, too, had produced fake agreements.
