Vasai-Virar housing scam: The making of a housing conman

Police escort (grey T-shirt) Prashant Patil and other accused; mid-day’s August 8 and August 9 reports on the scam. Pics/Hanif Patel

Prashant Madhukar Patil, son of a farmer from Kudal in Sindhudurg district, came to Virar in search of a job in 2010. Soon, he realised the scope for real estate growth in Vasai-Virar and set up his office in Kopri village. Patil was in his early 20s when he got his first big client, with whose help he made it big in the real estate sector, but by all the wrong means. However, it was a case of power theft that brought down Patil's Rs 3,000-crore housing empire.

Prashant Patil, the mastermind of the Rs 3,000-cr scam (right) Machhindra Vhanmane, on whose agricultural land Patil built first apartments

Patil, who came to Virar with his brother, fell in love with a woman and they got married. They even have a child together," a cop told mid-day. Giving further details about his alleged scam, one of the police sources said, "One day, Machhindra Vhanmane approached Patil to sell his eight-guntha agricultural land in Kopri village, Virar East. Patil visited the site with Vhanmane and offered to construct flats on the land for sale to buyers."

According to the source, Patil suggested to Vhanmane that he become a builder instead. "This eight-guntha land was an agricultural plot. The land right needed to be altered to a non-agricultural plot to construct an apartment. "Since Vhanmane was naive in this field, he wondered how he would secure the completion certificates (CCs), occupancy certificates (OCs) and the required order under RERA. But the son of a farmer was smart enough to convince him. Patil assured him that he will do all the needful for him provided he is given a 40 per cent cut in the profit," the source added. The idea was so tempting that Vhanmane did not even think twice agreeing to his offer of land, the source said, adding, "And thus began the criminal journey of Patil, in 2011."

Rudransh Apartments at Kopri village, Virar East, is the first of the 55 residential complexes Patil built over 10 years since 2011

Forms his company

Patil formed his real estate company, Rudransh Realtors, and began construction work on Vhanmane's land. The source said, "After the skeleton of Rudransh apartments was erected, the buyers started to invest money and based on the collective amount, the building was constructed." "The mastermind had made fake blueprints of the property," he added.

Now, with the help of other co-accused Dilip Adakhale, Dilip Benvanshi and Rajesh Naik, Patil forged CCs and OCs to secure RERA order. "The scammers had lured homebuyers in the name of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana wherein a beneficiary gets a subsidy of R2.5 lakh," the source said.

First profit of Rs 12 crore

"Since the gang had made around Rs 12 crore on the first project without any legal hindrances and without having to pay government taxes, they started looking for properties like reserved lands, government land, or convinced private landowners to construct apartments," said the source.

Virar police have seized 155 fake stamps and 1,100 fake letter heads of VVCMC and CIDCO. Pics/Hanif Patel

Over the years, Patil and his gang built 54 more apartments and sold dream homes to working-class people in Vasai-Virar. "Most of the unauthorised constructions happened in Virar, where Patil was based, with sporadic constructions in Vasai and Nalasopara areas," said the source.

Civic officials under lens

A senior officer at Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar police wondered how the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) officials missed such a massive scam. "We are also investigating if VVCMC officials helped Patil and his gang," said the officer requesting anonymity. Sources at Virar police told mid-day that more FIRs are likely to be registered against Patil and his gang members, as they have sold out one flat to many buyers by forging PAN and Aadhaar cards of buyers.

Dilip Adakhale, Rajesh Naik, Prashant Patil and Dilip Benvanshi

The Virar police have seized 155 fake stamps and 1,100 fake letter heads of VVCMC and CIDCO, which were used to make forged government approval letters to sell flats to buyers. Fake letterheads and stamps of revenue officials from Thane and Palghar districts were also seized. In another case, the Virar police on Wednesday registered two FIRs against two unknown builders for using bogus documents for the construction of two buildings.

Mastermind was caught for power theft of Rs 5 lakh

A highly placed source at Virar police told mid-day that Prashant Patil was arrested in March for stealing electricity at his own flat in Raghuveer Samarth Apartments in Virar East. "The complainant was the deputy executive engineer of a power supplier, as Patil was involved in power theft during August 2018 and October 2022. The FIR was registered on December 23...and subsequently he was arrested on March 14, 2023," said the officer. "Patil had tampered with the electricity meter and had stolen 22,877 units of electricity worth Rs 5.29 lakh," he added.

2011
Year he started his business