The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 24th March, 2018: Bhagtani Riyo victims' efforts to compel EOW to apply MPID Act got a setback last week as the special judge rejected their application. After initial disappointment, the victims' reaction was: "We must appeal!" But the question arises: Is appealing likely to be fruitful? Let us apply our mind without sentimental attachment to past decisions and actions. First, let us remember why we filed the application under MPID. Why MPID? The full name of MPID Act is "Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 1999". It is designed to protect "depositors in financial establishments". We had three challenges: (1) People who paid Bhagtani money are not exactly "depositors". (2) JVPD Properties Pvt Ltd is not exactly a "financial establishment" (3) Section 2(c)(iv)(a) of the MPID Act explicitly excludes "advance against order for goods or services" from ...

Mumbai, 17th March, 2018: Some years ago, you gave Bhagtani lakhs of rupees in exchange for what you thought was a legally - enforceable contract . But is it a contract, or just worthless pieces of paper? Let us take a close look at your transaction. Possession, they say, is nine-tenths of the law , meaning that your ownership of something is easy to maintain if your have possession of it, and difficult when not. When your money was in your own bank account, it was entirely yours. It was your "today-money" . Then you put your money into JVPD Properties, Jaycee Homes or MD Devcon, and thereby renounced your possession and diluted your ownership of the money. In the company accounts, your money became aggregated with other people's and Bhagtani's money. It was treated by Bhagtani family as their own money, to lend or spend as they pleased, without any financial discipline. It flowed into places hard to track, such as unregistered partnerships and proprietorship ac...

Mumbai, 16th March, 2018: Yes, legal battles are tough, time-consuming, exhausting and costly. You win some and you lose some; that is the nature of the beast. Riyo victims' MPID application at sessions court was rejected on technical grounds, making it necessary for the group to approach high court. Serenity victims' RERA application seeking to have Xander declared a co-promoter appears a bit shaky; whether it will be accepted or rejected by RERA judge Kapadnis will be seen in a few days. Yes, legal battles require patience and alertness. It took 3-4 months of hard work for Riyo victims who were complainants and intervenors to put Diipesh Bhagtani in prison; he almost succeeded in fooling the judiciary, getting anticipatory bail and flying to Dubai like his father and brother. In the end, people managed to get his bail application rejected. It took group effort and enterprise, and yes, it cost the victims about Rs 10,000/- per head. Going forward, getting a high court or...

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, 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)....