Police probe Rs 96 lakh fraud in Navi Mumbai “Third Mumbai” land deals

What began as the promise of owning affordable land near the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport has turned into an alleged multicrore land scam with police accusing a Navi Mumbaibased husbandwife duo of repeatedly changing company names to evade action while collecting lakhs from investors for plots that allegedly never materialisedThe CBD Belapur police have booked Ravindra Rohidas Nayak alias Rana and his wife Deepa Nayak for allegedly cheating investors of nearly Rs 9643 lakh through a network of real estate firms operating under different names including HomeLand Realtors FarmNLand Realty FNL Realty Alibaug Properties and Aksheem Agrilands Pvt LtdOffice premises in Navi MumbaiInvestigators claim the duo sold plots in Uran Vindhane and the proposed ldquoThird Mumbairdquo region near the Navi Mumbai International Airport but several buyers later discovered that transfers were cancelled ownership records did not match or promised deals never went throughEOW begins deeper probeThe Economic Offences Wing EOW Belapur has now stepped in to investigate the alleged fraud pattern and financial trailRavindra Nayak was produced before the CBD Belapur court on Saturday and remanded to police custody till TuesdayRavindra Vanjari an official from the EOW said the probe initially moved slowly because many victims were reluctant to formally testifyRavindraleft his wife Deepa NayakldquoInitially investors were not coming forward to record their statements likely due to the lsquosettlementrsquo tactics and postdated cheques issued by the accusedrdquo Vanjari saidldquoHowever they are now coming ahead in significant numbers to testify realising the scale of the deceptionrdquolsquoSettlementrsquo formulaInvestigators say one recurring tactic involved issuing postdated cheques to complainants after police complaints were filed persuading some investors to temporarily withdraw or delay legal action Documents accessed by midday include statements recorded on March 11 2025 from Nayak and an associate Nandkishor Vaman AlhatAlhat stated that he booked four gunthas in the Sarda Uran area through Homeland Realtors after seeing an advertisement in 2021 Despite paying Rs 10 lakh the transaction allegedly never materialisedAccording to his statement Nayak later issued two postdated cheques worth Rs 10 lakh mdash dated April 2025 and September 2025 mdash along with assurances of refunding Rs 25 lakh paid towards registration chargesWhat triggered the police caseThe alleged fraud pattern surfaced after Sunanda Khatpe 50 filed a complaint claiming she paid R1160 lakh for two gunthas in Vindhane only to later discover that the transfer had allegedly been cancelled and the land registered in another personrsquos name Investigators are now examining whether similar transactions took place across multiple projects marketed by the accused firmsLoopholes in systemChartered accountant Viren Dedhia said the case highlights loopholes in tracking repeat offenders operating through multiple entitiesldquoBy frequently changing legal names and physical locations they stay one step ahead of traditional police recordsrdquo Dedhia saidldquoThere is no unified tracking of these lsquomastermindrsquo directors across different company registrations allowing them to defraud the public of croresrdquoFirms linked to the accusedgtgt HomeLand Realtorsgtgt FarmNLand Realtygtgt FNL Realtygtgt Alibaug Propertiesgtgt Aksheem Agrilands Pvt LtdPolice suspect the firms were repeatedly rebranded while operating from changing office locationsHow the alleged fraud unfoldedEarly 2021An advertisement circulated for plots in the Sarda Uran areaOctober 2021Payments allegedly collected from the DrsquoSouza and DrsquoCosta families for plots in Vindhane under HomeLand RealtorsJanuary 2023Under the name FarmNLand Realty Rs 3 lakh was allegedly collected from Sanjay Vamarao More for a plot in the proposed ldquoKhopta New TownshiprdquoMarch 2025Statements of Ravindra Nayak and associate Nandkishor Alhat were recordedMay 2026CBD Belapur police intensify probe EOW begins deeper investigationCase statisticsVictim Alleged amount defrauded Plot locationShazia Mulla Rs 65 lakh UranMilind Dongre Rs 1183 lakh UranSunanda Khatpe Rs 1160 lakh VindhaneTushar Kadam Rs 8 lakh UranTotal alleged fraud in the current FIR Rs 9643 lakh