Worli resident has lodged an FIR with the Santacruz police mentioning that two people, posing as owners of a 1BHK apartment in Neral, cheated him of Rs 4 lakh
Madhukar Piscar
Buying a dream home remained a distant dream for this senior security officer at the security guard board of the state government, when he realised that he had got involved in a fake deal. The victim identified as Madhukar Piscar (43), a Worli resident, has lodged an FIR with the Santacruz police mentioning that two people, posing as owners of a 1BHK apartment in Neral, cheated him of Rs 4 lakh. The cops have started investigating the matter.
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A police officer from Santacruz police station said, “An FIR has been registered under section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC. Action against the accused will be taken soon.”
Cheap rates
Speaking to mid-day, Piscar said, “In 2012 I came across an advertisement which mentioned that flats were able at cheap rates in Neral. Thereafter, I went to the address that was mentioned in the ad, where I met Ramesh Patil. He took me to the site in Jitegaon, Neral. He told me that flats, which would come up on the plot, were being offered at a starting price of Rs 10.5 lakh. After exchanging our cell phone numbers, I left for home.”
Unnecessary delay
He further said, “After a week I received a call from Patil, who offered me a flat at Rs 8 lakh after negotiations and asked me to make an advance payment of Rs 4 lakh. I sold off my wife’s jewellery and with whatever savings I had, made the payment. I also met another man by the name Kartik Rawal. Patil had told me that Rawal would deal with me for the rest of the process. However, they kept delaying the deal by saying that they were yet to get an approval from the state government about the plot being a non-agricultural one. They also mentioned that they were to receive the no-objection certificate.”
Who is the real owner?
“Looking at the kind of reasons they were citing for the delay, I got suspicious. Hence, I visited the site and enquired about it from the locals, who told me that the property belonged to one Ashok Jain. Then I managed to get in touch with Jain, who said that he had nothing to do with my money and the duo Rawal and Patil. It was then that I decided to approach the police,” he said.
Fake promise
Meanwhile, when the duo came to know that Piscar had filed a police complaint, they promised to return the money through cheque. Piscar further said, “They gave me a cheque of Rs 6 lakh, saying that they were paying me Rs 2 lakh interest for the delay. They also asked me to call them up before depositing it. A couple of days later when I contacted them, they told me not to deposit the cheque as there was no money in the account. I approached the police once again and asked them to lodge an FIR. I produced the payment receipt and details of the cheque through which I had made the payment. The FIR was registered against them on January 2 this year.”
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