Real estate agent arrested for duping chartered accountant of Rs 29 lakh through fraudulent flat sale

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A real estate agent has been arrested by Dahisar Police in the city for allegedly cheating a chartered accountant of Rs 29.5 lakh through a fraudulent flat sale, police said on Saturday.

While Deepak Kirit Shah was arrested, co-accused Rajesh Jain and Aditya are absconding, said a police official.

Complainant Hitesh Mansukhbhai Gondvilya, a Dahisar resident and a chartered accountant, was searching for a residential property as he was living in a rented flat, he said.

During his search, Gondvilya came across an online advertisement for a flat with a price of Rs 1.05 crore.

After the complainant contacted the number mentioned in the advertisement, a man who identified himself as Aditya invited him to visit the flat in Rawalpada area. The complainant and his father visited the flat and decided to buy it.

Aditya introduced him to Deepak Kirit Shah and Rajesh Jain, claiming that Jain was the owner while Shah was the broker handling the transaction.

The complainant allegedly paid them Rs 29.55 lakh as part consideration. He was planning to raise the balance amount through a bank loan after the registration of the sale agreement.

But the accused postponed the registration on various pretexts and started avoiding him.

When the complainant checked the flat's ownership details at the tehsildar's office, he was shocked to learn that it belonged to another person, and the accused had provided him forged documents by replacing the original owner's photograph with that of Jain.

After he approached police, Shah was arrested and a search was underway for the other two men, the official said.