Three booked for duping Thane builder of Rs 42 lakh over sale of land

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The police in Maharashtra's Thane district have registered a case against a couple and their son for allegedly cheating a Thane builder of nearly Rs 42 lakh over the sale of land, an official said on Thursday, reported news agency PTI.

In his complaint, the 27-year-old Thane builder, who lives in the Bhiwandi area, said the accused and he had signed an agreement a few months ago towards the sale of more than 15 acres of land in the district, reported PTI.

The Thane builder alleged that he and his family paid Rs 42 lakh to the accused in connection with the deal but the accused neither got the land transferred nor refunded the money, reported PTI.

While the accused sold the land to others, they abused and threatened to harm the builder whenever he sought a refund, the official said citing the complaint.

Acting on a complaint by the builder, the Shanti Nagar police in Bhiwandi registered a case against the couple and their son on Tuesday, the official added, reported PTI.

In another case, a director of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) at Vashi was on Wednesday arrested by Navi Mumbai police in a corruption case, an official said, reported PTI.

Sanjay Pansare, the accused, was allegedly involved in a scam concerning a contract to build toilets at the APMC, reported PTI.

The alleged scam caused a loss of more than Rs 7 crore to the APMC, as per the FIR, reported PTI.

The Navi Mumbai crime branch has already arrested an official and two contractors in the case.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered here against four persons for fraudulently transferring Rs 47.6 lakh from the account of the Maharashtra School Education and Sports department by forging cheques, police said on Wednesday, reported PTI.

The fraud came to light on March 4, and after an enquiry, a case was registered against Namita Bagh, Pramod Singh, Tap Kumar and Jeetan Khatun, an official said, reported PTI.

The fabricated cheques with forged signatures were cleared at Kolkata and Chennai, reported PTI.

The concerned bank on Wednesday compensated, as per the RBI guidelines, the loss caused to the government department by depositing the amount in its account as bank officials had failed to scrutinise the forged cheques, the police official said, reported PTI.

Further probe is underway, he said.

(With inputs from PTI)