The Navi Mumbai Police have arrested a builder who was on the run since June 2018 after allegedly duping close to 1,000 investors by promising them second homes in Karjat and Alibaug.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Unit I, arrested Anand Kadam from Thane on Tuesday evening and produced him in court on Wednesday. He has been sent to police custody for 10 days.
Mr. Kadam and his wife, Kavita, had started a company called Realliance Constructions Pvt. Ltd. and branded it as RCL Homes. The accused took the booking amount from customers, but did not deliver any flats. They would show customers the foundation work of the project, but there was no construction being done.
According to the police, the Kadams were taking booking amounts since five years ago. The couple and two others, Meenal Umraniya and Vaishali Savalkar, had a joint venture and started a project in Alibaug. Ms. Umraniya and Ms. Savalkar were arrested last year.
The case came to light after Haso Arjundas Sajnani, who had invested ₹16 lakh in the company’s Coral Lake project at Karjat, approached the EOW in June 2018. In the course of investigations, theThe police learnt about other unfinished projects — Ten Square and Liberty Horizon in Karjat and Marina in Alibaug.
“Four cases were registered against the accused with the Vashi police, since the builder’s office was in Vashi. Till now, close to 500 people have approached us with complaints, but the accused have cheated at least a 1,000 people,” senior police inspector Shyam Shinde from EOW, Unit I, said.
The Dadar police, too, have a complaint registered against Mr. Kadam, which runs into crores of rupees. The accused are also facing cases in the consumer court.
On Tuesday, assistant police inspector Atul Lambe received information that Mr. Kadam had started a new venture in Thane and put up advertisements for loans against insurance. Mr. Lambe and assistant police inspector Anand Shahane visited the address on the advertisement. There was no office at the site, but the accused had rented a flat in the building. “He was picked up from the flat, while his wife is still at large. We have learnt she left him a year ago,” Mr. Shinde said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Pravin Patil said, “We will now seize his bank accounts and verify how much of the fraudulently acquired money does he still have.”
