Mumbai: In a rare and important step, the High Court of Bombay de Builder Fraud Case has transferred that was registered under the Maharashtra Protection of Interestion of Depositors (MPID) Act-to the Mumbai Crime Branch, with reference to serious decline in the study).
The move came after the victims, who had claimed a scam of more than RS 100 Crore, had submitted a petition with a loss of trust in the probe of EOW.
In his detailed order of 7 July, the court strongly criticized the EOW DCP Sangramsinh Nishandar for not taking concrete steps since he took over the case in March 2024. “Ex-facie We think that the DCP involved is hardly in the study in the study.
The Supreme Court was especially destructive about freezing bank accounts and noted that some people had negligible balances of approximately £ 2,000 to £ 3,000, which stated that none of the personal accounts, vehicles or real estate was connected to one project site.
‘Laxity and negligence’
The sworn declaration submitted by Nishandar on July 15 attracted further criticism, whereby the court called his justifications ‘Lamme apologies’. He claimed that an anticipatory bail order had compelling action against the accused, who limited his research. However, the court rejected this reasoning and said that the order was only protected against arrest and the investigation was not limited.
The court also spoke to Nishandar for blaming the income tax department, BKC, for not providing no real estate data that are linked to PAN numbers. When assessing data, the court found that the letter from the EOW only asked for PAN details and not real estate records. “A false debt is placed in the income tax department, while the Senior Police inspector himself has shown laxity and negligence,” said it.
Another major course concerned not keeping track of real estate transactions. The court noted that a notification was sent on October 20, 2023, to the joint sub-register of guarantees, Andheri-IV and VI, with regard to new registrations related to the suspect. Although subsequent agreements were registered, no action was taken to collect or investigate them through the EOW. The court stopped that this was a lack of initiative by the EOW investigation officer Mr Kate.
Furthermore, the court pointed out that notifications sent to the Inspector General of Registration in November 2023 and March 2024, in search of real estate details of the accused any results because no follow-up densions were supplied by the EOW. In December 2023, the BMCs Building Proposal Department provided project-related documents, including approved plans and IOD receipts, but the EOW did not act on this information again.
Not freezing the accounts of the accused
The court also remembered that on 11 June 2025 another banking officers in court who was present in court to confirm the property of the suspect and to prevent the sale of assets, but were allowed to move considerable amounts through different accounts.
In one case, £ 45 crore was parked in an account that should have been frozen earlier. By the time that action was taken, almost the full amount was withdrawn. Similarly, £ 13.14 crore was credited in another account after the FIR and was later withdrawn £ 13.16 crore. A third account saw £ 3.16 crore credited and moved quickly.
“Now, notifications are being issued to identify companies that have independent accounts,” NiShandar claimed in his statement. But the court rejected this movement as “too little too late”, while noticing: “We are reminded of an old English expression:” Locking the gates of the stable after the horses are screwed up. “
The court also noted that the accounts noted in the sworn statement now contain only £ 5,000 to £ 10,000, despite the fraud that £ 45 crore encounters. “It is quite striking that although the sworn declaration comes in 15 pages and refers to a dozen documents, no copy has been registered. It seems that the affiant does not want this court to investigate them,” the bank said.
In view of the plea of the same to change the entire investigation team, the court transferred the probe to the Mumbai Crime Branch under joint commissioner Lakhmi Gautam, who was asked to shortlist his team. The case is then heard on July 30.
What is the case?
A FIR was registered in September 2023 at the police station of Amboli against prominent developers Impiyaz Maredia, Pyarali Maredia and others. For alleged deception of 139 home buyers of £ 45 Crore.
The amount was collected under the pretext of building luxury residential towers called Meridian Heights in Jogeshwari. However, the project has remained incomplete since 2008. Victims have also claimed that the funds collected may have been diverted for personal use.
Victims
“I bought a flat between 2020 and 2021 and was promised in 2023. According to Rera, the builder had to end up by the end of 2024, but the project is still incomplete,” said Abdul Malik Khan, one of the victims. “The work has only reached the 12th floor and the construction has stalled over the past 5 years. The site has been completely closed. Every time we asked, the builders assured us that the work would resume within 15 days and promised to promise ‘good news’. We never came under huge mental stress. Despite paying around 2 crore, I still live in a hired apartment.”
Another victim, the 62-year-old Ruknuddin Mansoori, said he intended to return to India from the VAE, but now there is nowhere to live. “In August 2008 I invested £ 87 Lakh in Meridian Heights. The builder, Imtiyaz, promised me possession, but I had to push them to even sign an agreement in 2016. I am a senior citizen. This flat was supposed to be my pension, I didn’t bought times, but he didn’t bought any times, but he didn’t have any times.”
Mirror put out his hand to Nishandar, but he refused to comment. Sources in the crime branch said that another team has been formed.
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