Unit two of Economic offence Wing (EoW) of the Navi Mumbai police arrested a 36-year-old man who allegedly cheated at least 25 home buyers on the pretext of giving bungalow at a cheap rate. However, after taking the booking amount, he fled. He had offered bungalow at Nere village in Panvel.
Police said that the accused had taken the booking amount between 2015 and 2017 and since then he was at large.
The accused identified as Rohan Ramesh Arte who is also the proprietor of Ashwani R Construction promised home buyers a bungalow at a cheap price. He had also taken a total of Rs 19,63,000 as booking amount from 1t least 25 home buyers.
“Arte collected a total of Rs 67,10,150 as booking amount from at least 25 gullible buyers on the pretext of giving bungalow Wish Spring project at Nere village in Panvel project,” said the official. He added that he continued booking till 2017 and then suddenly fled.
When buyers who booked flat bungalow to reach him, he was not available. “Arte did not construct bungalow and kept all the booking amount,” said the official. He added that for the last eight months, he was skipping his arrest.
A case under section 420 and 34 of IPC for cheating and Section 4(1) and 13 (1) of the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats (Regulation of the Promotion, Construction, Sale, Management and Transfer) Act, 1963 was already registered against him in Panvel City police station on 13 June 2019.
Meanwhile, the commissioner of police Bipinkumar Singh has appealed to citizens to report if anyone has booked bungalow and paid any booking amount.
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