Woman claims builder from Mumbai duped her of Rs 40 lakh

PUNE: The Kothrud police are investigating a woman's complaint accusing a builder in Mumbai's Jogeshwari of duping her of Rs40 lakh by refusing to hand over possession of a high-end luxury car in lieu of money.
The incident occurred between September last year and March 2 this year over a deal for investment in a flat in a housing project in Mumbai.
Senior inspector Hemant Patil said, "Complainant Mangal Parkale and her husband Nagnath are land developers and wanted to invest in a flat in Mumbai. They met the Jogeshwari builder via a common friend and he convinced them to invest Rs2.55 crore in a flat in Andheri as it was available at a cheap rate."
However, after giving the money to the builder, the Parkale couple came to know that the flat was already mortgaged to a bank, said Patil. So, they asked him to return their money. Initially, the builder offered to transfer his high-end luxury car worth Rs40 lakh in favour of Mangal as part of the refund process and even completed the vehicle transfer process with the Pune regional transport office (RTO) in December last year. But then, he refused to hand over the car, added Patil.
Later, the complaint said he dared the couple to do whatever they want as he would not give them the car or return their money.
Nagnath told TOI, "I borrowed money and took a bank loan to book a 3BHK flat in the name of my wife in an 18-storeyed building. The builder issued me a possession letter, but he did not execute the sale deed. I later came to know that my flat was mortgaged with a bank. I then instructed the builder to repay Rs2.55 crore. He transferred the car in my wife's name, but did not hand over its possession."