Two brokers Jayesh Mehta and Kantilal Gulabchand Doshi, posed as owners of a bungalow on Juhu-Tara Road, and borrowed Rs1.20 crore from a bank against it.
Brokers take loan against senior Parsi citizen’s Juhu bungalow without his knowledge
This is a plot straight out of a Hindi film. Two conmen, brokers Jayesh Mehta and Kantilal Gulabchand Doshi, posed as owners of a bungalow on Juhu-Tara Road by forging property papers, and borrowed Rs1.20 crore from a Mumbai bank against it.
The real owner, according to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police, had no idea about his property being mortgaged until the bank contacted him a year later. The EOW arrested Mehta, 55, on Friday, and Doshi, 78, on Saturday.
According to a first information report (FIR) filed by Jagdish Nanavati, who holds the power of attorney for Ratan Pheroze Vevaina, 80, the latter owns the 1,500 sq ft bungalow, Mithi Minar, on Juhu-Tara Road, which is worth several crores.
Vevaina apparently had no idea about the fraud until the Hindustan Cooperative Bank wrote to him in May, asking him to renew the land mortgage deed for the loan he had ostensibly taken in 2006.
According to Vasant Dhoble, senior police inspector of the EOW, “The bank had to renew the loan application and needed to verify the bungalow papers. The bank contacted Vevaina at the address provided in the documents.” It was then, Dhoble added, that Vevaina discovered someone had duplicated the papers from photocopies obtained from the registrar of documents.
“Doshi, posing as Vevaina in 2005, approached the Hindustan Cooperative bank for the loan and overdue facility against his alleged property, which was disbursed last year,” Dhoble added. The money was given to developer Santosh Thakur, who had sought a Rs1.20 crore-loan from Mehta and Doshi’s brokerage firm.
Police investigations confirm that the documents submitted by the accused were forged after the sub-registrar’s office at Old Custom’s House and forensic experts agreed.
After Vevaina and Nanavati learnt of this fraud, Nanavati filed a complaint with the Pydhonie police. They transferred the case to the EOW. “When the bank contacted Vevaina, it was a shock to him,” says Dhoble. “Nanavati clarified they had never approached any bank for a loan, and had no dealings with Hindustan Cooperative.” Thakur was called by the bank to return the amount taken, which he did.
According to Nanavati, 78, investigations revealed that Mehta and Doshi had actually visited the city survey office at Parle to procure the survey number of Mithi Minar, and then went to the registrar’s office in Bandra where they got hold of the land file of the bungalow. They made copies of the original papers, and affixed Rs1,000 stamps for authenticity. They then got the fake papers attested and submitted them to the bank, Nanavati added. “The bank realised it had been duped only after we contacted it,” Dhoble added.
Nanavati did not want Vevaina to be contacted for comment. “He is aged and lives alone,” he said. “He is unwell and would not like to speak about this.”
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