Mumbai: Crook who conned property owners held

The police said Sharad Amritlal Rochlaney is a habitual offender

The Arnala police have arrested a conman who would allegedly cheat property owners on the pretext of buying their property or by giving them loans against their property papers and then mortgage the documents to secure bank loans for himself. The modus operandi of the fraudster, Sharad Amritlal Rochlaney, came to light in 2022, after bank employees arrived to seal an elderly woman's house along with staff from the local tehsil office.

Arnala-based Vandanu Kadu (property owner) was in need of money for her husband's treatment in 2014 and had given photocopies of her property documents along with a signature to Rochlaney for sale. Later, she managed to make arrangements for the money elsewhere and asked Rochlaney to return the documents. He informed her that they had been discarded as they were photocopies. However, he had mortgaged these for a loan of Rs 1.39 crore.

According to the woman, her property papers had already been used as mortgage with Manikpur Urban Bank. "How can any other bank give a loan by mortgaging the same property documents? I complained everywhere in this context and finally, an FIR was registered last month," she said, adding that Rochlaney has been arrested.

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The police found that Rochlaney is hand in glove with several officers of various banks and have together duped several people. In one of the other cases registered against him, complainant Rafiq Maniyar from Kurla said he needed money for the treatment of his mother and was trying to sell his property in Murbad. He met Rochlaney along with an agent in 2014. Rochlaney expressed his desire to buy the property for Rs 2 crore and paid Rs 3 lakh as a token amount to Maniyar. He took the original property documents and mortgaged them with a nationalised bank to take a loan of Rs 2.5 crore. Maniyar later received a loan recovery letter and realised he had been duped, after which he approached the police in 2018. "The property was auctioned off for just Rs 50 lakh as the loan was unpaid. I have lost everything. I was doing well in my business but now my employees have been forced to leave and seek work elsewhere," he said.

In another case, a 50-year-old Vasai resident who needed money for her husband's treatment had given her property papers to Rochlaney. He and his associates took a loan of Rs 2 core against the documents. Now, loan recovery agents and bank officials have started visiting her home to seal the property for auction. The woman had met Rochlaney and his associate through agents in 2015 and was conned in the same way.

Manohar Vadival, who is in the construction business, had borrowed R35 lakh from Rochlaney at an interest rate of 2 per cent against the documents of his bungalow (worth R1.5 crore). Vadival's ended up being conned similarly and his bungalow was auctioned by the bank for Rs 75 lakh.

According to the police, Rochlaney is a habitual offender who works with a team including officers of various banks. He has collectively duped people to the tune of over Rs 200 crore. "He was arrested on April 8 and remanded in police custody," police sub-inspector Sanjay Mohite from Arnala police said. Further investigations are underway.