Prashant Madhukar Patil, son of a farmer from Kudal in Sindhudurg district, came to Virar in search of a job in 2010. Soon, he realised the scope for real estate growth in Vasai-Virar and set up his office in Kopri village. Patil was in his early 20s when he got his first big client, with whose help he made it big in the real estate sector, but by all the wrong means. However, it was a case of power theft that brought down Patil’s Rs 3,000-crore housing empire.

Prashant Patil, the mastermind of the Rs 3,000-cr scam (right) Machhindra Vhanmane, on whose agricultural land Patil built first apartments
 
Patil, who came to Virar with his brother, fell in love with a woman and they got married. They even have a child together,” a cop told mid-day. Giving further details about his alleged scam, one of the police sources said, “One day, Machhindra Vhanmane approached Patil to sell his eight-guntha agricultural land in Kopri village, Virar East. Patil visited the site with Vhanmane and offered to construct flats on the land for sale to buyers.”