Economic Offences Wing nabs three in building fraud case

More trouble mounted for well-known Kamla Landmarc Construction after the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of city police on Tuesday arrested three persons associated with the company in an alleged Rs 10.12-crore cheating case. The accused have at least 22 such cases registered against them in Mumbai to the tune of Rs 350 crore, police sources said. Kamla Landmarc had gained prominence for its failed bid to own the IPL Deccan Chargers team in 2012.

Those arrested are Jinendra Jain, 39, Jitendra Jain, 36, and Ketan Shah, 44. The accused persons also own Kamla Laxmi Developers.

Explaining the case, an EOW official, on the condition of anonymity, said, Sai Siddhant Developers, which has three partners, had got redevelopment work of four buildings at DN Nagar in Andheri (W). Later, Sai Siddhant Developers entered into a joint venture with Kamla Laxmi Developers, under the joint venture name Sai Kamla Developers, to redevelop DN Nagar project.

"It is alleged that the accused persons opened a forged account and showed Ketan Shah as the proprietor and sold flats to 15 persons and took Rs 10.12 crore from them. They transferred the money to Ketan's account. These flats were sold without consent and knowledge of Sai Siddhant and allotment letters were given to the victims. However, when the victims did not received flats, they approached the police," said the official.

A case of cheating was then registered against the accused persons under sections of Indian Penal Code and Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act.

Complainant Jamnadas Sachdev, a Vile Parle resident, had given Rs 92 lakh for a flat in the project in 2012.