Five arrested for cheating land buyers in Navi Mumbai of Rs 2 crore

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The Navi Mumbai police have registered a case against the owner of a private company and four other individuals for allegedly defrauding 36 people of over Rs 2 crore in a land sale scam, an official confirmed on Thursday.

According to the police, the accused had been engaged in fraudulent land deals with the victims since October 2017. The accused reportedly promised to sell land located at Jui in the Uran area of Navi Mumbai. Over the course of these transactions, the victims paid a total of Rs 2.07 crore for the supposed land purchases. However, the victims never received possession of the land as promised, nor did the accused return their money, the official from the Vashi police station stated.

The defrauded individuals filed a complaint after several attempts to recover their money or secure the promised property went unanswered. Based on their complaint, the police filed a case on Tuesday against the owner of the private company and four other individuals associated with it. The charges include cheating, as well as violations related to fraud and dishonesty under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The accused, whose names have not been disclosed yet, were allegedly running the fraudulent land-selling operation through the company, which lured buyers with promises of prime land deals at a discounted rate. The victims, unaware of the deceit, had paid for the property with the hope of completing their transactions. However, as the months passed, it became clear that the accused had no intention of honouring the agreements.

The police are now investigating the case further, and the accused are expected to face charges that could lead to serious legal consequences.

The police have also issued a warning to prospective land buyers to thoroughly verify the legitimacy of the property deals before making any payments. The investigation is ongoing.

In a separate incident a 48-year-old doctor has allegedly been duped of Rs 70 lakh by three persons, including a woman, who offered to sell him a flat in Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai township, police said on Thursday. The accused showed a flat located in Roadpali area of Kalamboli to the doctor and expressed their intention to sell it to him despite the fact that it had been already sold to someone else.