The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 24th October, 2018: Yesterday, an open letter physically signed by 174 victims of Bhagtani builders, was sent to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Home Minister Dr Ranjit Patil, and top police authorities. The letter demanded departmental enquiry against investigating officers who avoided filing chargesheets against companies that duped over 2,500 families of their life savings, and decisive actions to bring back the absconding company directors, namely Mukesh and Laxman Bhagtani. We started the campaign for collecting physical signatures on 6th October, and during the next two weeks, copies of the Open Letter were kept for signatures by nine victims at their residences and offices in Mumbai, from Mira Road to Bandra, and Versova to Vikhroli. The letter sent to Chief Minister, Home Minister, Director General of Police and Police Commissioner. Text of the letter sent is reproduced below: To Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister & Home Minister, Ma...

Dear Friends, As you are aware, we have made a huge difference by writing open letters in the past. In November 2017 , we wrote an  open letter to Chief Justice of Bombay High Court , signed by 55 Riyo victims in Borivali National Park. As a result, Justice Badar was restricted from hearing Bhagtani's ABA matter by an order that said, "Not before any bench of which Justice A.M. Badar is a part". In December 2017, we wrote an open l etter to Maharashtra CM  asking why Bhagtanis were still roaming free and enjoying life. This letter had physical signatures collected from 267 Bhagtani victims of different projects. Shortly afterwards, in January 2018, Diipesh Bhagtani was forced to surrender to EOW. Friends, it is time for us to fire again. This time, the open letter has to be about defective chargesheets that the police have filed for Riyo and Serenity , and other projects also.   Let us send this letter to CM, Minister of State for Home, Director Genera...

Mumbai, 4th October, 2018: Is the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police deliberately going easy on Bhagtanis? Are the forensic auditors and Forensic Science Laboratory going slow? Eyebrows must rise that EOW's chargesheets of  Bhagtani Riyo and Serenity ,  filed in April and August,   are against Diipesh Bhagtani, and not against JVPD Properties Pvt Ltd and its directors Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani.  Download Riyo FIR & Chargesheet  Download Serenity FIR & Chargesheet Regardless of whether it is proper or improper, omission from the chargesheet gives  Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani extra time to continue living abroad and doing hera-pheri . As long as they are considered only suspects, and not chargesheeted offenders, they remain safe from Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, Interpol Red Corner Notices, deportation to India, police interrogation and judicial custody.  Two things that EOW cops often tell victims:  (a) The...

Mumbai, 22 August, 2018: Bhagtani Savannah victims have gotten used to being kept in the dark, and making their legal decisions based on very little information. In this respect, Vrushali Patil's case was like a bright ray of light in a dimly-lit room. Whatever else the merits or demerits of this legal initiative, one major benefit was the enormous amount of information that it yielded -- not only for Savannah but for Bhagtani victims of all Bhagtani projects. Paradoxically, people seem to have little willingness to analyze and digest this information! It appears that Bhagtani victims have grown tired of exercising their brains. "When are we getting our money or our flats? We are exhausted! We don't want to use our brains any longer!" is what they seem to be saying. (This is a natural human reaction in the face of tragic loss and hopelessness, but unfortunately, such reactions will not lead to any productive results!)  Of the 1300 pages of material available, ...

Mumbai, 10th March, 2018: Hundreds of victims of Bhagtani builder's Savannah project will come together tomorrow (Sunday) to stage a protest at the project site at Kanjurmarg East. Between 2014 and 2016, MD Devcon Pvt Ltd, a group company of Bhagtani's Jaycee Homes, aggressively advertised the Savannah project, and collected booking amounts of roughly Rs 170 crore from 725 flat-purchasers, without any intention of completing the project and delivering flats. The funds were diverted and misappropriated by the builders. Diipesh Bhagtani, the mastermind of the scam, has been in judicial custody since 11th January due to multiple FIRs registered by Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) for similar offenses committed in four other projects, viz. Riyo (Mira Road), Sapphire (Dahisar), Serenity and Krishaang (Powai). Meanwhile, Diipesh Bhagtani's elder brother Mukesh and father Laxman, who have also played major roles in the scam, have been absconding for many months, and are bel...

Mumbai, 26th January 2018: Happy Republic Day! Bhagtani Horizon redevelopment project is in full meltdown mode, and this has special significance for all Bhagtani victims. The meltdown of Horizon project has exposed the fraudulent nexus between Diipesh, Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani and their close business associates Tejas and Tarun Vyas. It has given occasion for dozens of victims to file FIRs against Bhagtani while making Vyas the co-accused. You may ask why it is necessary to file such FIRs. The answer is that Tejas and Tarun Vyas of Oyster Living are deeply involved in Bhagtani's racket. Through their real estate projects such as Foresta and Foresta 2 (formerly called Serena), Tejas and Tarun Vyas have enabled Bhagtani to do money-laundering of several hundred crore rupees via the "transfer option". Bhagtani Horizon's 8-storey frame. Construction stopped in June 2016. The most important reason for filing such FIRs is that Tejas and Tarun Vyas are secretly ...

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, 3rd December, 2017: An open Letter signed by 267 Bhagtani victims from various projects, was dispatched by Speedpost yesterday . The letter demanded to know why there was a inaction from the law-enforcement agencies despite Dipesh, Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani cheating thousands of home buyers. The letter demanded to know why Bhagtani builders were still roaming free & enjoying life? Why hadn't they been taken into judicial custody and interrogated already? Why weren't their passports impounded yet? This letter, with signatures, was sent to Chief Minister, Home Minister, Police Commissioner, Advocate General and MP Kirit Somaiya. Many victims worked patiently for many days to gather the 267 signatures from all over Mumbai, especially Kavita Doke (Dadar), Karunesh Nishesh (Mira Road), Ashok Palo (Powai), Dr John Paul (Dahisar), Dolly Sheth (Mulund) and Paresh Karia (Goregaon).  Meanwhile, many NRI victims of Bhagtani, such as Mahesh Adhate, Suma Guha and S...

Mumbai, 18th November, 2017: Click on the title to read that article. A. Voices of Bhagtani Victims Bhagtani Victims' Voices #5: Subiya Shaikh, a school teacher, on Bhagtani Serenity in Powai Bhagtani Victims Voices #4: Ketan Gajara writes about Bhagtani Serenity, Powai Bhagtani Victims' Voices #3: Shalin Agrawal, a cheated ad agency in Serena project Bhagtani Victims' Voices #2: Dr John Paul on Bhagtani Sapphire, Dahisar   Bhagtani Victims' Voices #1: Branson, Imran & others on Bhagtani Serenity Project, Powai B. About court proceedings Open Letter to CJ about Justice Badar's zigzag orders in Bhagtani ABA How Bhagtani Victims must respond to latest High Court order   Justice Badar's sudden change of ringtone   Bombay High Court Order on Bhagtani Riyo -- what it means   Repay all Bhagtani Riyo Victims: Bombay High Court   Bombay HC Order: Slap in Face for Bhagtani Builders, Relief for Riyo Project Victim...