Malad Catholic society members allege ‘massive’ fraud in deal with developer

The Salsette Catholic Co-operative Housing Society has allegedly sold 20 acres of land in Malad (west) at a mere Rs12 crore to Conwood Developers,against the government valuation of Rs50.12 crore. The present market valuation of same plot is nearly Rs127 crore, a conservative estimate.

Of a total of 60 committee members of the Salsette Catholic Co-operative Housing Society, 20 members, including Ronald D’Souza, raised an objection to the suspicious deal. “We have been running from pillar to post to seek justice,” he said.

“But no one has responded. We asked our managing committee to request a government valuation of the land, so it could be sold in an open market. But the committee refused to hear our voice, and sold this prime 20 acres of land at Rs12 crore only.”

“Our objection is, the land was given to the said developer without the general body approval,” said D’Souza. “To get to the truth, we sought information under the right to information (RTI) act, where it was revealed that the land was divided into 14 pieces worth of Rs50.12 crore.”

He added that the government was also deprived of revenue. “It is a clear-cut cheating case. But why is the government not taking action?”

Lancy Ferrera, another member, said, “Our society members are hand in glove with the developers, and so the prime-location land was sold at a low rate,” he said. “The committee members should be punished for selling the land at an undervalued plot rate. Why is the CBI reluctant to probe this?”

The society’s manager Ralf Fernandez refused to speak on the issue. On the other hand, Sanjay Parekh of Conwood Developers refuted the allegations. “If the agreement is signed by a majority of the society members, then it cannot be called as a fraudulent deal,” he declared.