Five of a family booked for duping bizman of ₹49 Lakh

MUMBAI: The RCF police on Sunday booked five members of a family for allegedly duping a Chembur-based businessman to the tune of ₹49 lakh under the pretext of providing him agricultural land for a farmhouse in the Pune district.

The complainant was looking to purchase a plot for a farmhouse when he came in contact with the accused persons who showed him a plot in Pune and later took money in installments, but did not complete the transaction.

Senior inspector Kedari Pawar of the RCF police station said that they conducted a preliminary inquiry into the matter and on verification of preliminary facts the case was registered against five members of a family, identified as Laxman Nimbalkar, 60, Latika Nimbalkar, 51, and Laxman’s children Shantanu, 35, Amol, 32, and Priya, 29. They are residents of Kharghar in Navi Mumbai. “Further investigation is going on and we will arrest the accused soon,” added Pawar.

According to the police, the complainant, Immeet Gurusharan Singh, 37, lives in Chembur along with his senior citizen parents, wife and children. Singh was looking for land in Lonavala to construct a farmhouse when he saw an advertisement in April 2022 in a newspaper about the sale in Karjat, Lonavala, Pimpri Chinchwad, Lavasa Road, and other areas. He contacted the mobile number given in the newspaper and got the mobile number of Laxman Nimbalkar, who claimed to be a real estate agent.

Singh visited Nimbalkar’s office located near Sanpada railway station who showed him documents of lands at Mulshi. Singh and his parents visited the site, and they liked the plot and agreed to buy it. The price of the land was fixed at ₹22 lakh and Singh gave ₹1 lakh as a token amount. Singh later paid ₹13.50 lakh through online payment and another installment ₹10 lakh in cash in August 2022, said a police officer.

After two months the suspects called Singh into his office and told him that there were issues in the sale of the land in Mulshi and agreed to show him another land parcel in Pomgaon also in Mulshi Taluka which was three-acre at the rate of ₹18 lakh per acre, said a police officer.

Singh along with Laxman Nimbalkar and Shantanu Nimbalkar later visited the site in Pomgaon and Singh liked the land and decided to buy it. The suspects told him that the land was already surveyed, added a police officer.

The suspect then made an agreement and power of attorney. Singh paid a further amount in cash, and they decided to get the sale deed registered. In March 2023, Laxman Nimbalkar called Singh to Vadgaon for registration of the sale deed, which the accused had prepared in Marathi. Though Singh did not understand the language properly, he trusted Laxman Nimbalkar and signed the papers without reading them. The suspect did not give the papers to Singh, saying he would get a few more documents in a few days, added officer.

Later. Amol and Shantanu contacted Singh and asked him to pay ₹15 lakh more. Suspecting some foul play, Singh went to the registration office in Vadgaon to get the registration papers and then realised that the plot was not registered in his name. He then approached the RCF police, and a case was registered on Sunday, said a police officer.