MUMBAI: In an alleged 25-year-long fraud, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has been cheated of more than Rs 121 crore, with the Kherwadi police registering a case against 10 developers and firms accused of failing to pay rent for transit tenements allotted to them for redevelopment projects.
Considering the large financial loss and the long period involved, the case has now been transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for further investigation.
The complaint was filed by Mohan Raosaheb Bobade, a MHADA officer, following an internal review of rent payments related to transit tenements allotted to developers for redevelopment projects. The review revealed that several developers had allegedly failed to clear rent dues despite occupying the premises for years. Since the MHADA office is located at Kalanagar in Bandra East, the FIR was registered at the Kherwadi police station, which has jurisdiction over the area.
According to police, MHADA had allotted around 400 transit tenements located across different parts of Mumbai on a rental basis to several developers through lease agreements, No Objection Certificates (NOCs) and allotment letters during the period between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2021.
These transit premises are typically provided to developers to temporarily accommodate tenants displaced during building redevelopment projects.
Investigators said that at the time of receiving the tenements, the developers allegedly paid a portion of the rent initially, thereby gaining the trust of MHADA authorities and entering into formal agreements. However, after securing possession of the transit premises, they allegedly stopped paying the rent and violated the terms and conditions of the agreements.
As a result, MHADA suffered a financial loss of Rs 121,00,53,105, police said. Officials suspect that more developers may have failed to pay rent for similar transit premises, and those aspects will also be examined during the course of the investigation.
Based on the complaint, police have registered a case under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code against the accused developers.
Officials said that since the alleged fraud spans more than two decades and involves a substantial financial amount, the case has been handed over to the Economic Offences Wing for detailed financial scrutiny and verification of documents related to the allotment and rent payments. The FIR was registered on March 10, and further investigation is underway.
