Builder booked for duping businessman of Rs 7.38 crore

PUNE: The Warje police on Friday booked a builder for allegedly duping a businessman of Rs 7.38 crore by not handing over the possession of nine flats the latter had bought at a project in Kalyaninagar and selling one of them to two other buyers by forging and fabricating documents.
The registration of these properties was done at the sub-registrar’s office in Warje. “Kalyaninagar businessman Ravindra Eknath Kumavat (50) has lodged a complaint of cheating, forgery and criminal intimidation against the builder, Gautam Pashankar,” senior inspector Rekha Salunkhe of the Warje police said on Saturday.

When contacted, Pashankar told TOI, “Kumavat had made an investment in the project and we are in the process of settling his claims. My commitment still stands for him and our differences will be resolved. I have not sold the flat to any others as alleged.”

Senior inspector Salunkhe said Kumavat was in the business of buying and selling flats for profit on realization of the increased price. “He had booked nine flats in ‘Yin Yang’ project, developed by the Pashankar Group in Kalyaninagar, in 2014, for which Kumawat had paid the entire cost of Rs 7.38 crore to the builder. He was supposed to get the possession of these flats by the end of 2017.”

Kumavat has stated in his complaint that a year-and-a-half ago, he came to know that Pashankar had not received any building permission from the Pune Municipal Corporation for the third and fourth floors of the project where his flats were located.

“The complaint stated that these floors were constructed illegally, but Pashankar sold the flats showing an approved floor plan,” Salunkhe said. This allegation has been denied by Pashankar.

Kumavat has also alleged that Pashankar sold one of his flats in the other wing of the project to two other buyers without his knowledge and consent.

“The complainant has said for selling his flat to two other buyers, the builder had prepared fake and fabricated documents and got the same registered in the name of these buyers at the sub-registrar of Haveli Number 13,” the officer said.

Salunkhe said, “We are verifying all the case documents and the contents of the complaint before we take a call on whether to act against the builder.