Mumbai: Police here booked five members of a family on Sunday for allegedly duping a Chembur-based businessman of Rs 49 lakhs. The businessman was promised a land under the pretext of providing an agricultural land for a farmhouse in the Pune district. The complainant, identified as Immeet Gurusharn Singh was, looking to purchase a plot for a farmhouse when he met with the accused persons who showed him a plot in Pune.
They later took money in instalments, but did not complete the transaction. Kedari Pawar, senior inspector of the RCF police station informed that they conducted a preliminary inquiry into the incident and on verification of preliminary facts, a case was filed against five members of the family.
These five persons have been identified as Laxman Nimbalkar, 60, Latika Nimbalkar, 51, and Laxman’s children Shantanu (35), Anmol (32)and Priya (29). They are residents of Kharghar in Navi Mumbai.
Police informed that the complainant lives in Chembur along with his senior citizen parents, wife and children. He was looking for land in Lonavala to build a farmhouse when he responded to an advertisement in April 2022 in a newspaper about the sale in Karjat, Lonavala, Pimpri Chinchwad, Lavasa Road, and other areas. He contacted the number and got in touch with Laxman Nimbalkar, who claimed to be a real estate agent, an HT report added.
Nimbalkar showed Singh a plot at Mulshi. Singh and his parents liked the plot and agreed to buy it. The price of the land was fixed at Rs 22 lakhs and Singh gave Rs 1 lakh as a token amount. Later, Singh paid Rs 13.50 lakh through online payment and another installment of Rs 10 lakh in cash in August 2022.
Afterwards, Nimbalkar told Singh that there was some problem in the Mulshi plot and convinced Singh to show him another plot in Pomgaon which was three-acre land at the rate of Rs 18 lakh per acre. The suspect Nimbalkar also told Singh that the land had already been surveyed. Then, in March 2023, Laxman called Singh to Vadgaon for registration of the sale deed, which the accused had prepared in Marathi. Though Singh did not understand the language, but he trusted Nimbalkar and signed the papers.
After some time, Amol and Shantanu, other suspects asked Singh to pay Rs 15 lakh more. Singh suspected something and went to the registration office at Vadgaon to get the registration papers and that’s when he got to know the plot was not registered in his name, following which he filed a complaint.