Gang of 5 leaves 3,500 families in 55 buildings facing uncertain future

Around 3500 families of drivers daily wage workers painters etc in VasaiVirar are in shock after the police arrested a gang of 5 people who had sold them flats from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh in illegal apartments cleared under RERA using fake documents It is a matter of investigation as to how various government agencies either did not verify the fake documents or were convinced by them The arrest of one gang member in July led to the arrest of the other four on Saturday The Virar police have learnt that more than 55 buildings have been constructed by the accused and many of the buyers even procured home loans with clearance from RERAAlso Read Urdu is exceptionally expressive and itrsquos hard to ignore it Zeb BangashOne of the buildings built as part of the scam four of the five accused arrested in the scam PicsHanif PatelThe collectorrsquos office that is investigating the case will soon take a call on the fate of these families Preliminary investigations by the cops have revealed that the accused had managed to convert the agricultural category land for adivasis into nonagricultural category using forged documents and even got RERA clearance The land in various places in VasaiVirar is owned by two of the accused Benvanshi and Patil who are also the developersldquoThe entire sale looked crystal clear and with RERA clearance many reputed banks readily offered loans leaving no doubts in the minds of investorsrdquo an officer from Virar police station said Police sources told midday that this is the first property scam in India where the total collection by the builders is Rs 3000 crore Around 3500 families are victims of this scam that allegedly was not smelt by agencies in the construction and ownership process ndash including the District Collector Thane and Palghar Additional Collector Jawahar Commissioner VVMC Deputy commissioner and town planning VVMC CIDCO RERA authority and income tax departmentGanesh Patil assistant commissioner of VVMC received a complaint about a double agreement case in Rudransh building and found all papers were fake He then filed an FIR PicsHanif PatelLower middle class targettedThe construction of buildings as explained by police officers began four years back At least 55 buildings were constructed in VasaiVirar and flats sold to around 3500 families with fake documents The accused converted agricultural land to nonagricultural hired agents and specifically targeted lower middle class families with the lure of flats worth Rs 15lakh Rs 20 lakh The buyers also got PMO subsidy as well at Rs 25 lakh reducing the total cost of the flat Using fake documents they were given RERA approval which attracted more potential buyers After the victims gave the down payments they were taken to the government registration office where they even got the papers to their flatsEverything fakeSubInspector Surendra Shivade of Virar police station registered a case in February on the complaint of Ganesh Patil 44 assistant commissioner of VVMC in which he told the police about the fake documents and buildings being constructed in VasaiVirar On February 7 Ganesh Patil received a complaint about a double agreement case in Rudransh building On checking the legal papers Ganesh Patil found they were fake and filed the FIRA police team with the seized fake stamps and other documents etcActing on the complaint the police arrested one Machindra Vahane on July 23 He told them about the involvement of Dilip Anant Adkhale which led the police to raid his place of operation where they found 93 fake stamps 600 fake letterheads of VVMC 500 fake CIDCO letterheads 55 fake files of different buildings fake OCs and multiple drawings blue prints and fake permission letters In the investigation from July 24 to August 1 in just one week police managed to expose the scam They also arrested Dilip Kailash Benvenshi Prashant Patil and Rajesh Naik for the creation of fake documentsThe police have written letters to all the government departments involved to come forward and register FIRs against the accused The police also said that this is the biggest money laundering case in a long time The accused have been booked under various sections of the IPC and Maharashtra Ownership of flats Act 1963Rs 3000 crApproximate worth of scam