Clarence Pereira was arrested by police last year after mid-day exposed him for trying to grab home of elderly Khar woman
Clarence Pereira says Andheri flat owner Bharat Patel sold him the house (right) he was renting
Con artist Clarence Pereira, who was arrested by the Khar police last year after mid-day exposed him for trying to grab the bungalow of an elderly woman in Chuim village at Khar, is back to his old tricks. This time he has targeted an elderly man, Bharat Patel, from Andheri, trying to usurp his two-bedroom flat.
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After taking a flat on rent, Clarence Pereira apparently forged the documents of the apartment located on Sahar Road and stopped paying rent in August. Later, when the flat owner started to send legal notices to vacate the flat for non-payment of rent, Clarence approached the Andheri police playing the victim card.
“Clarence has told the police that he had bought the flat for R45 lakh in cash and had additionally issued a cheque worth Rs 50 lakh. But I am still the legal custodian of the flat as I have not sold it to anyone yet. Above all, Clarence is lying and has not paid me a single penny to buy the flat,” Bharat told mid-day. He finally approached the Andheri police station where the cops registered a Non-Cognisable Offence (NC) report on Wednesday.
Clarence Pereira with his wife Nancy. File pic
Patel, 65, had rented out his 2BHK flat in Andheri East to Raphael, 31, the son of Clarence in February 2023. “Raphael approached me through a property agent for the flat. He had told me he runs a tour and travel business. After preparing all the documents, I rented out the flat to him in February 2023,” said Vipin, Bharat’s son.
Meanwhile, the Patel family had decided to sell the property for which many buyers would visit the flat even after the Pereiras had shifted. “Whenever any potential buyer would visit the flat, Clarence would spread a rumour that he has bought the flat. He started this in March 2023 and it was shocking for me,” said Bharat.
Refusal to vacate
“When he stopped paying the rent and we learnt that the Pereiras were trying to usurp the flat, I sent him a notice. Raphael signed the document agreeing to vacate it by September 15. But he kept on extending the deadline,” Vipin added.
“On October 3, I went there to get back the keys to my flat but the Pereiras requested that we wait till October 5. We have given the flat on rent to Raphael, yet his father Clarence always intervenes and has been making our life difficult. When we asked them to vacate the flat, Clarence bought time for one more day and promised to vacate the flat at 6 pm on October 6,” Vipin said. He added that they saw the Pereira family packing their bags on the evening of October 6, but soon after, they received a call from a police officer Ankush Rathod, asking his father Bharat to visit Andheri police station.
Claims of ownership
At the police station, Bharat was told by the police officer not to visit the flat the Pereira family was residing in. “Clarence has given a complaint at Andheri police station accusing us of harassing him and his family. But we are the victims here. Now this police officer Rathod has told me not to visit my own flat which the Pereiras are trying to usurp,” Vipin said.
The Patel family waited for a few days, but seeing no other way forward, Bharat approached the Andheri police on Wednesday and submitted a complaint explaining how he had been cheated by the con artist. “But the cops filed an NC in this matter and told us to wait till Rathod resumes duty as the officer is on leave,” Vipin said.
When contacted, Rathod said, “We have received a complaint from the Pereiras against Patel. I was working on the issue but had to take leave on an urgent basis. I am checking the veracity of allegations made by Pereira and till the time I was in office, the Patel family had not submitted any complaint.”
When contacted, Clarence told mid-day that he had all the relevant documents to prove that he had bought the flat from Patel. “After purchasing the flat, I got it renovated and spent a huge sum of money. Why will a tenant spend lakhs of rupees to renovate a rented flat? I have all the documents to prove that the flat belongs to us,” Clarence said on Tuesday. “I can produce the documents related to the same,” he added.
No documents produced
On Wednesday, the Pereiras visited the mid-day office but failed to produce any documents related to the issue and instead requested the correspondent not to publish the article. “Why do you want to publish the story when I have already purchased the flat? I live with my loyal family peacefully,” said Clarence, who was flanked by his son Sam and daughter Rachelle.
Clarence has a criminal record and was arrested by the Bandra and Khar police for cheating and sexual abuse cases against him. “I was falsely implicated in the cases. Above all, I have won the rape case against me and I am still fighting the case by Khar police where a woman registered an FIR against me in January 2022. I own the bungalow in Khar’s Chuim village for which I was arrested for cheating the woman, who was admitted to Thane Mental Hospital. But I got her discharged from the hospital and took care of her,” Pereira added.
Lawyer speaks
Criminal lawyer Trivankumar Karnani said, “If a tenant refuses to vacate a flat rented on a lease & licence agreement upon receiving a prior eviction notice from the landlord and then the tenant claims to have purchased the flat, the act prima facie discloses the commission of cognisable offences under Sections 406 & 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The local police must register an FIR and summon the accused under Section 91 of the criminal procedure code to ascertain if there is a sale deed and other relevant documents and whether they are forged or genuine.”
According to Karnani, the office bearers of the society should also be summoned as prosecution witnesses to ascertain whether the claims made by the tenant are true as there are a lot of formalities which have to be completed by the office bearers of a housing society at the time of transferring ownership of a flat. “Hence, only a full-fledged police investigation will help ascertain the truth, considering the criminal history and previous conduct of the accused who indulged in land grabbing,” he said.
Feb 2023
Month flat was rented out to the Pereiras
Aug 2023
Month Pereiras stopped paying house rent
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