Vasai-Virar scam: Cops tell registrar not to register new sales in house of cards buildings

Shree Gurukrupa Apartments, one of the 55 buildings allegedly built illegally in Vasai-Virar. Pics/Hanif Patel

In the Rs 3,000-crore alleged housing scam case, the Virar police have registered four FIRs so far and have told the registrar to stop fresh registration of sale deeds at 55 residential societies. Confirming the development, Virar East Registrar Sanjay Wankhede told mid-day that they have blacklisted all these properties and started verifying the registrations from 16 of these buildings that are in their records.

Property dealers, including estate agents, in Vasai-Virar have also removed from their listings the flats in the 55 buildings under police scrutiny and cautioned new buyers through their social media platforms. The flats that were listed were up for resale, mid-day found out on Friday.

Sanjay Wankhede, registrar

The 55 residential societies were built using fake occupation certificate (OC), completion certificate (CC), fake letters of permission from collector, gram panchayat, sarpanch as well as RERA, according to the police.

According to the registrar, they do not have records of registration of flats in 39 of the 55 societies, which means they were forged. However, their system has records of sale registrations from 16 societies.

Co-accused Machhindra Vhanmane, Dilip Benvanshi, Dilip Adakhale

The police said they are verifying details of other properties with the help of the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) and will register more FIR in the coming days. According to sources, 150 more FIRs are likely to be registered in the R3,000-crore housing scam case and other unauthorised constructions as well.

‘Only genuine documents'

mid-day spoke to the real estate agents in the area to verify whether the flats in the unauthorised societies were still up for resale.

Prashant Patil, the mastermind of the Rs 3,000-cr housing scam Pics/Hanif Patel

"We have stopped selling flats in Omkar society since an FIR has been registered and flat registration has been stopped by the authorities. We don't want to make money by cheating people, like the builder did with the residents. We only sell flats with genuine documents. We had sold many flats in this society before, but we thought the documents were genuine. However, after the FIR, it was found that the documents were forged. We receive a commission of Rs 40,000-Rs 50,000 per flat and we are happy with that," an agent said.

Another agent said, "We sold many flats in Vinayak Apartments. But, now, we are advising new buyers not to buy flats in this society since its documents are forged and an FIR has been registered against the society. Meanwhile, the existing residents are requesting us to sell their flats at any rate they can get, but we cannot do that. We don't want to cheat any buyers. Our job is to provide the buyer with their dream home and not deceive them."

Senior Inspector Rajendra Kamble of Virar police station said, "We have written a letter to the VVCMC and the registrar regarding the FIRs registered against four societies. The registration process for these flats is now difficult, and the registrar will make a decision on it."

Being extra careful

Speaking to mid-day, Virar East Registrar Sanjay Wankhede said, "We have ordered our officials not to register flats in the 55 illegal buildings. We have also instructed them to verify all society documents with the VVCMC office. We are currently going through the registration documents of 16 of the 55 apartments, to verify whether the signature of our officials was forged.

"Our aim is to prevent new buyers from being cheated," he added.

Forged signatures were found on registration documents of flats of the remaining 39 apartments, according to officials.

Wankhede said they are taking extra precaution in all new registrations here on. "I have ordered our officials to check OC, CC and other property documents of all the buildings now, and verify them with the VVCMC office before registering them. It will take us a week, but we will make sure buyers don't lose their life's savings," he added.