Developers and agent booked for cheating Kandivli home buyer

The Kandivli police have booked two directors of Shriji Developers, Kirti Mehta and Mona Kiran Mehta, along with estate agent Sunil Bafna, for criminal breach of trust and cheating.The offence was registered on the complaint of Narendra Shah, a real estate investor, who alleged that he had invested Rs 2 crore in 2019 to book seven flats in a housing project undertaken by Shriji Constructions in Kandivli west. The project was supposed to be completed by 2021, but Shah discovered that the developer had sold the project to Ruparel Reality instead. According to Shah's FIR, he was introduced to the Mehtas through Bafna in 2019. The Mehtas informed him about their firm's ongoing housing project in Kandivali west, which involved rehabilitating people under the SRA Scheme and selling flats in the saleable component. Shah visited the site, saw the construction in progress, and was assured by the Mehtas that investing in the project would yield good returns in the future. Convinced, Shah booked six flats and signed the sale purchase agreement, paying the Mehtas Rs 1.75 crore in various installments. Additionally, he paid Rs 35 lakhs for seven parking lots, Rs 25 lakh for registration and stamp duty, Rs 10 lakh for GST, and Rs 7 lakh as commission to the estate agent. However, in 2022, Shah was shocked to learn that the Mehtas had sold the project to Ruparel Realty, effectively canceling the agreement between them and Shah. Despite repeated promises to return his investment of Rs 2.25 crore, the Mehtas failed to do so, leaving Shah feeling cheated,according to the complaint.