Mumbai Police Registers Case Against Builder For Forging Documents To Claim 71 Flats Worth Rs 13.65 Crore

A builder-developer was booked by Mumbai Police for allegedly using forged documents to stake claim to 71 flats/offices in a project in Bhandup and cheating his partners of Rs 13.65 crore, a police official said on Saturday. An FIR was registered against the builder, Pratik Vira, after another real estate developer Kashyap Mehta lodged a complaint at Azad Maidan police station.

The investigations showed Vira allegedly fraudulently pocketed gains through the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) at Samriddhi Garden Project undertaken by Sivana Realty. The complainant partnered with one Atul Bharani and set up Sunshine Group in 2002, which took over a project in Bhandup to develop 3.75 acres of land under the sub-company Sunshine Housing in 2006.

Pratik Vira, son of Jayesh Vira, a chartered accountant, joined Sunshine Group in 2010 as a director of various companies and started looking after accounting, finance, and marketing, the FIR stated. However, a dispute arose among the partners and various settlement options were discussed.

Vira allegedly demanded certain flats and office units in Samriddhi Garden Project in exchange for 20 per cent shares held by Pratik Vira's family, as per the FIR. The accused took over Sunshine Housing and became its director in December 2019.

He changed the company's name to Sivana Realty. He allowed Sivana Reality Private Ltd's insolvency by showing just Rs 13 lakh in outstanding, despite having sufficient funds and multi-crore inflow/transactions in the SRPL, the official added.