The Malad police have filed a case against four individuals accused of defrauding a jeweller of Rs1.2 crore by posing as MHADA officials and offering him a below-market-rate flat. The victim, Prashant Jain, 43, the owner of Om Jewelers in Zaveri Bazaar, was lured into the fraudulent scheme under the pretext of securing an affordable MHADA flat.
According to police, Jain met the accused — Sachin Dhuri, Yogesh Pote, Mahadev Bodhle, and Satish Jadhav — in 2019. Pote, one of the accused, introduced Dhuri as a Class 1 officer responsible for MHADA flat allotments. He presented Bodhle and Jadhav as Class 2 employees in administrative roles within MHADA. To gain Jain’s trust, Pote provided identification badges and visiting cards that purportedly identified the accused as official MHADA officers.
The suspects explained to Jain that MHADA provides below-market-rate housing to eligible individuals through a lottery system. They claimed that flats, especially in high-demand areas like south Mumbai and suburbs such as Charni Road and Andheri, were difficult to obtain. However, they promised Jain that he could secure one of these flats through Dhuri, who was supposedly able to access MHADA flats from lottery winners who couldn’t meet financial requirements.
Believing the scammer’s story and trusting the fabricated credentials, Jain agreed to meet the accused. On July 2, 2021, Jain handed over Rs1.2 crore at a hotel in Malad West, believing the money would secure him an affordable flat. The accused presented forged documents and fake identification to seal the deal, ultimately defrauding Jain of his money.
Following Jain’s complaint, the Malad police launched an investigation and registered a case of fraud, cheating, and forgery against the four suspects. Authorities are now looking into the network of fake MHADA officials involved in the scam, as the accused are believed to have targeted other victims as well.