Former cop dupes 18 on pretext of giving flats at cheaper rates, booked

The accused

A case has been registered against an ex-police officer by Antop Hill police for allegedly duping a lady and her relatives for Rs 41 lakh on the pretext of giving MHADA flats at cheaper rates. Antop Hill cops are yet to arrest the accused.

37-year-old Fatima Abdul Rehman Mulla is a resident of MHADA Transit camp, Antop Hill. Fatima works as a maid and her husband Abdul Rehman (45) works as a driver. They have one daughter and three sons. Fatima had applied for a passport in 2015 but when cops reached her house for verification, they found that her house was locked. The cops sent her passport application to CID Crime Branch for further inquiry. When Fatima and her husband went to the office, they met an officer named Pradeep Salekar. Salekar assured Fatima and her husband that he will help them in getting a passport and they need not worry about it. Salekar managed to get them a passport which resulted in gaining their confidence. "Salekar started meeting my husband and even used to visit our place frequently," said Fatima Mulla. "Sometimes he used to bring his daughter as well. Our family started trusting Salekar," she added.

In July 2017, Salekar had gone to Fatima's place and he said that his relative is handling work of a renowned builder who has a construction site at Nehru Nagar in Kurla. He offered that if her family wanted to buy a flat in the building, he could help them in getting it at a cheaper rate which is around Rs 15 lakh. Not only Fatima but many of her relatives got ready to buy flats in the building.
Everybody was asked to pay Rs 4.5 lakh as a registration amount.

"I paid him all the money in cash and he said that he will get everything done with the help of his relative named Charu Salekar," added Fatima. From July 2017 to April 2018, Fatima paid Rs 9 lakh 37 thousand.

"Several times he took our family to a construction site and showed a building. One lady named Charu Salekar also met them claiming that she was a MHADA officer. But when Salekar stopped taking calls of Fatima and her husband, they got suspicious.

In April 2018, when family questioned Salekar that when will they get the possession of the flat, he said MHADA will release a list after formal list. But the list didn't appear and Salekar stopped communicating. Salekar had taken Rs 41 lakh from 18 people on the pretext of giving MHADA flats at cheaper rates.

Finally, Fatima registered her complaint with Antop Hill Police station against Pradeep Salekar, his relative Charu Salekar under IPC section 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 34 (common intention) and other relevant sections of forgery. "We have filed the case against the person accused of Cheating," told Ashish Raje, Senior Inspector of Antop Hill Police station. Salekar retired in 2018 as a police sub Inspector.

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