Mumbai: Year on, 160 duped by builder couple still wait for justice

For the 160 people, who were allegedly duped by builders Anand and Kavita Kadam, their erstwhile office in Haware Fantasia Business Park in Vashi is a jarring reminder of the money they lost. Even a year after five FIRs were registered by the Navi Mumbai Economic Offence Wing against the couple, there is no trace of the Kadams.

“They had two projects in Karjat and one in Alibaug. In 2012, they claimed to have begun construction but until 2014, only a little work had begun. When the people who had bought the flats started demanding a refund, the duo shut shop and vanished,” said an officer from the Navi Mumbai EOW.

When people approached the police, they realised that the Kadams were selling the same plot as two different constructions and had cheated at least a hundred people, police said. “They were doing something similar in the Alibaug project. After telling the existing customers that the project was stalled over some coastal regulations, the name was changed and was being marketed again, in 2017,” the officer said.

When the police registered the FIRs in July 2018, the Kadams had already shut their office in Vashi. “They had given a fake home address of Panvel, so we don’t know where they are based out of. After investigating for months, we realised they probably left Navi Mumbai in 2018 itself,” the officer said.

The Navi Mumbai police also found out that the Kadams had been dragged to consumer courts over similar matters in Thane. “In Navi Mumbai, their firm was called Realliance Buildcom or Realliance Construction Limited. In Thane, they had a firm with a different name, that shut shop in 2008. They have cheated people to the tune of crores,” a senior officer from Navi Mumbai police said.

“A lot of people whose statements we have recorded also seemed to be taken in by the name (Realliance) as it sounds similar to a giant conglomerate. The Kadams had charged Rs 5-10 lakh from each victim,” an officer privy to the investigation said.

But even almost a year later, the Navi Mumbai Police is nowhere close to tracing them. “The couple had planned their escape before we were approached. They left no trace, no clue behind. Apart from the complainants, it’s almost as if the company never existed. They had not gotten any documentation of even the land in their names, it was all sourced out,” the officer said.