Mumbai: Builder dupes 4,000 investors of Rs 250 crore

A Mumbai based builder has allegedly duped over 4,000 buyers and investors of Rs 250 crore over a period of three years.

Cursing himself, Santosh Bandekar (52) said that he invested the heavy amount despite being warned by his wife. According to mid-day report, Santosh recently lost his job, stays with his family in the Mulund police quarters and his wife Shweta is now the breadwinner, earning for the family and their two teenage daughters’ education.

Santosh told mid-day, “We have always stayed in a quarter, not having our own house. My ex-colleagues told me about this project by Shree Mahavir Patwa Developers & Construction Private Limited, after seeing huge banners at Vasai station. Also, the developer had quoted a price of Rs 1,800 per square foot [Rs 8.9 lakh for a 490 sqft 1BHK], which was like a dream come true, as property prices in and around MMR were beyond our capacity in 2012.”

According to the plan, the developer was supposed to make 10 towers on 32 acres land.  In order to get a flat in one of the towers, Santosh reportedly sold his ancestral land located in Belgaum for 7.50 lakh and paid Rs 3.73 lakh to the developer, who has not started work so far.

It is to be noted that, the developer had given him an allotment letter for a first-floor floor and work was to begin in a phased manner.

Another flat buyer, Vaidehi Munankar, 31, was happy when she learnt three years ago that her husband Vikas, the BEST conductor, was booking a 1BHK flat in her name in this project. The couple, staying in a rented room in Vakola paying Rs 5,000 a month, gave Rs 2.11 lakh to the developer to get an allotment letter for a second-floor flat admeasuring 380 sqft.

“I mortgaged our gold jewellery for Rs 70,000, took a personal loan of Rs 90,000 and borrowed from people to collect Rs 2.11 lakh, but the developer never constructed anything on our plot,” rued Vikas, calling it the “biggest mistake of my life,” she added.

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