The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 7th January, 2018: Diipesh Bhagtani's two affidavits are like bikinis -- what they reveal is interesting but what they conceal is crucial. The two bikini affidavits in Bombay High Court are signed by Diipesh Bhagtani alone, in his individual capacity and not as a director of multiple corporate entities. This conceals dozens of important facts and connections. These affidavits give a superficial semblance of truthfulness and transparency, but the only thing that they do is misdirect your attention. Jo dikhta hai woh hai nahin , aur jo hai woh dikhta nahin hai. Got it? Download and read Diipesh Bhagtani's FIRST affidavit: http://bit.ly/2q37Dw5 This is the affidavit wherein, pursuant to the hearing held on 29th September, Diipesh, "along with other applicants", undertook to deposit Rs 22 crore in six equal installments in six months with the registrar of the high court, towards "settlement of the entire dispute" to be "paid off to th...

Mumbai, 1 January 2018: Happy New Year and welcome to 2018. Are Bombay High Court judges only incompetent, or are they also corrupt? Take a look at the Bhagtani hearings and understand why such a contemptuous question arises about Bombay High Court judges in general. In the course of the proceedings in Anticipatory Bail Application (ABA) no 1725 and 1533 of 2017, Diipesh, Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani have successfully exposing the infirmities of the court since mid-August 2017. Hrishikesh Mundargi, Mahesh Jethmalani, the Public Prosecutor and other "officers of the court" are abetting in this criminal activity. Although all of them passed orders that appeared strict, the overall effect of 12 hearings conducted by Justice Revati Mohite Dere, Justice A M Badar, Justice Anuja Prabhudessai and Justice AS Gadkari is to give Bhagtanis interim protection from arrest for nearly four months, without any genuine compliances. TIME is what the Bhagtanis desperately need for d...

Mumbai, 19th December, 2017: Based on Bombay High Court's spoken order yesterday, Bhagtani's victims have cause for optimism again. Although this is not reflected in Justice AS Gadkari's written order , tomorrow's proceedings may confirm this. It appears now that Bhagtani's victims will get their money back, but several questions remain. Will ALL the flat buyers from all the projects -- Riyo, Serenity, Sapphire, Savannah, Krishaang and others -- get their money back? When? And how much? In an ideal world, Judiciary will just hold Diipesh, Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani upside down and shake them until all the money falls out of their pockets into the hands of the court receiver.  In an ideal world, Judiciary will then call each victim by name -- regardless of whether he is an intervenor or not -- and refund not just the booking amounts, but also 15, 18 or 24% interest PLUS compensation for legal expenses and mental trauma and loss of real-estate appreciati...

Mumbai, 17th December, 2017: Diipesh Bhagtani's amazing talent for scamming was on full display yesterday at Bandra's Rang Sharda Auditorium, in front of several hundred angry home-buyers determined to get their money back immediately . After repeatedly promising to repay their money with interest for years, and breaking that promise every single time, guess what? He made another promise to them yesterday, and guess what? Happy with his promise to repay them in six months, people ended up giving Bhagtani what he wanted i.e. a No-Objection-Certificate for granting anticipatory bail signed by the lawyers representing over 300 home-buyers in Riyo, Sapphire, Serenity and Savannah projects. People were hypnotized into thinking that Bhagtani had given them a genuine undertaking to repay their money with 15% interest within six months. Many hours after the meeting, people awoke from Dipesh Bhagtani's hypnotic spell realized that Bhagtani had taken what he wanted i.e. the joi...

Mumbai, 8th December, 2017: In the context of this weird Bombay High Court order , what are the key takeaways? What lessons are to be learned from this? A key lessons is that each and every Bhagtani home buyer should do two things without delay: (1) File a police complaint with EOW (2) Become an intervenor in Bhagtani's ABA (anticipatory bail application) proceedings. People have a general tendency to wait and watch, rather than take action. They hope to benefit from the actions of others. "Let others file FIRs against Bhagtani, let them spend time and money to become intervenors. When the court orders come, they will benefit us all, right?" WRONG! The latest High Court order shows the dangers of such passivity. It is quite possible that the court order will benefit the complainants and intervenors, and not the others. The way forward is to BECOME INTERVENORS! Bhagtani is relatively quick to settle matters with those who create trouble for him, i.e. co...

Mumbai, 8th December, 2017: Bombay High Court has bowled another bouncer at the home buyers of Bhagtani Riyo -- another surprise in a series of surprises. The written order that was uploaded on the High Court website on 5th December, 2017, says something very different from what the judge said in open court on 30th November. Justice Anuja Prabhudesai's pronouncements in open court were accurately reported in Mumbai Mirror as a COMPLETE RELIEF TO ROUGHLY 1500 HOME-BUYERS of Bhagtani Riyo (Mira Road) and Serenity (Powai). The proceedings were hailed as a pro-people order by all the advocates and intervenors who were present. In contrast, the uploaded order only gives directions FOR PARTIAL RELIEF TO ABOUT 300 INTERVENORS AND COMPLAINANTS. Throughout the week, about 1500 home-buyers of Bhagtani have been extremely happy because they believe that Bombay High Court has at long last given a no-nonsense order! It appears that nobody has actually read the order, because the mood ...

Mumbai, 6th November, 2017: About 60 victims of Bhagtani builder's Riyo project gathered yesterday (Sunday) at Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivali East, to discuss and debate about the way forward in their legal battle for criminal prosecution of Bhagtani and recovery of their money. Many topics were discussed, including approaching various agencies and seeking advice from legal experts. Also, an open letter addressed to Chief Justice Manjula Chellur was signed by 55 aggrieved persons who are intervenors in Anticipatory Bail Application (ABA) hearings being heard by Justice A M Badar. The letter raises serious concerns about Justice Badar's leniency and dubious orders. This gathering of cheated flat-buyers signed an open letter to Chief Justice Manjula Chellur, complaining about Justice A M Badar's dubious orders favouring Bhagtani builders. The signed letter will be dispatched by speedpost later today. Several others, including Chief Justice of India and...

To Justice Manjula Chellur, Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Through The Registrar Bombay High Court, Fort, Mumbai 5th November, 2017 Sub: Justice Badar's Zigzag Orders in ABA no. 1533 of 2017 Dear Madam, Hundreds of victims of Bhagtani builders are on an anxiety-inducing roller-coaster ride, thanks to the strange twists and turns in proceedings of ABA no. 1533 in Bombay High Court. Seven orders h ave so far been passed -- four by Justice Revati Mohite Dere and three by Justice Badar. The latter's orders are increasingly lenient and devoid of judicial logic. Repeatedly, orders are passed based on unverified claims made by the applicants (Dipesh, Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani). A blind eye is turned to total non-compliance of anticipatory bail conditions mentioned in applicant Dipesh Bhagtani's affidavit . The most recent order is a cringe-worthy clean chit to the Bhagtanis for expressing the intention to approach National Corporate Law Tribunal (NCLT)....