No FIR lodged in Mhada lottery scam

The Kherwadi police refused to register an FIR in the Mhada lottery scam as it felt the details in the FIR draft and the Mhada report were contradictory.

“The report submitted by Mhada and the draft application are contradictory in nature. We found some important discrepancies. We have registered a non-cognisable complaint,” said a police official.

Mhada had announced on January 25 that allotments won by agents would be cancelled and a complaint lodged with the Economic Offences Wing. “I had asked the Mumbai board officials to file an FIR immediately as the matter was very grave,” said Satish Gavai, vice-president, Mhada.

Mhada had floated a lottery of 4,034 houses in May 2011 and the authority received an unnamed letter in August claiming 327 houses were won by providing forged documents. However, Mastek, the company that had prepared the software, found that 425 applications were forged.