The Brave Pedestrian

12th July, 2018, Mumbai: My blog criticizing the consent terms of Sapphire Welfare Association (SWA) with Bhagtanis raised a hornet's nest. Some angry people asked whether I had any solution for getting their money back. If I didn't, I should just shut up, they said. (They also said a whole bunch of other things, but let us focus on the constructive part.) Yes, since you ask, I have specific ideas about how to get your money back. My proposed method is: Cash-and-carry (CAC). If a party's credit-worthiness is zero and he is already deep in debt, trade with them on CAC terms. Stop extending credit!  What Bhagtanis want from you now is quashing of FIR and withdrawal of complaints. What you want is your money. So you should aim to get what you want at the same time as (or before) Bhagtanis what they want -- not a day later! Like they say in movies, "Ek haath se do, ek haath se lo". Shopkeepers call it cash-and-carry. Everything else can be negotiated, but f...

Mumbai, 7th July, 2018: I wrote an article yesterday disclosing the consent terms signed by Sapphire Welfare Association (SWA) with Bhagtani bulders. *(In case you haven't read it, click here and read it first.) Until we got our hands on these consent terms two days ago and placed it in the public domain, it was a closely guarded secret.  If consent terms is a straightforward deal, why didn't SWA announce their achievement immediately? Why were there only cryptic references such as "It is time to buy the mithai, but don't distribute it". Why keep it secret? The reason is: the consent terms are a great escape for Bhagtanis. They seek to give a clean chit and easy exit from the Sapphire cases to the absconding builders. Obvious issues in the consent terms : 1) If fugitives evading Indian judiciary sign an agreement in India through their power-of-attorney, what is its legal validity?  The consent terms signed by Diipesh Bhagtani in jail, on behalf of J...

Mumbai, 6th July, 2018: When the Sapphire Welfare Association (SWA) enrolled members and filed its Civil Suit/Plaint in Bombay High Court in a rush-rush hush-hush manner, the victims of Bhagtani Sapphire were split into two groups: (1) those who believed that their intent was genuinely to help the victims and (2) those who believed that their intent was to help the Bhagtanis get their criminal cases quashed, by giving the victims a lollipop.  My personal belief (based on my one year's experience of how Bhagtani's stooges manipulate people's minds through Whatsapp groups) is that the intention was solely to help Bhagtanis to come out of their legal troubles. I believe that gullible victims were drawn into the association by showing them them false hopes and dreams. And I believe that the consent terms signed between Bhagtani and SWA on 26th July, based on which the plaint before Bombay High Court was withdrawn, is fraudulent.  Through these consent terms, Bhagtani'...

Mumbai, 29th June 2018: Vashi Economic Offenses Wing registered FIR yesterday against the land holders and original builders of Marina project at Alibag (now called Cliff Haven), for cheating the home-buyers, and neither delivering a flat nor refunding the money paid to them. The ones named as accused in the FIR are Kavita Anand Kadam, Anand Uttam Kadam, Vaishali Vasudev Savalkar, Pravin Hirji Thakkar, Neeta Sankhe and Sunny Khamboj.  The directors of Enamour Realty and Sunvenn Advisors, who are builders and marketers of Cliff Haven -- which now stands on the plot where Marina project was advertised and marketed -- are NOT NAMED AS ACCUSED in the FIR, although they are mentioned in the police statement given by complainant Rajeev Khot, who had booked a flat in Marina, Alibaug.  An angry mob of over 200 RCL-RBIL victims from various projects, including Marina,  protested outside the builders' Vashi office on 24th February, in the presence of media. The F...

Mumbai, 28th June, 2018: Two months ago, MahaRERA passed an order favouring flat-buyers of Bhagtani Executive, now known as Ashok Odyssey, Ghatkopar . The order by Gautam Chatterjee said, "...parties are directed to execute the agreement for sale... within 45 days from the date of this Order. While executing the agreement for sale, Respondent should adjust the amounts paid by the Complainant to its net present value taking into account the time value of money paid by the Complainant in the year 2015."  Click here to read the RERA Order dated 26th April, 2018 .  This order is strictly applicable to only the complainant, namely Christina Contractor. However, this order is a huge step for all those flat-buyers who paid lakhs of rupees to Bhagtani builders for booking a flat in Executive, only to find that it was later renamed as Ashok Odyssey and taken over by Sanyam Realtors. Sanyam Realtors are basically Bhagtani's former partners "RJ Group".  The tran...

Below is the rebuttal of Sanyam Realtors to this article .  From: Akshay Jain <akshay.jain@rjgroup.in> Date: Thu, Jun 28, 2018 at 3:07 PM Subject: Re: Attn Mr Akshay & Rakesh Jain: Your rebuttal is solicited to attached article To: Krishnaraj Rao <krish.kkphoto@gmail.com> Cc: RJ Group Info <info@rjgroup.in>, Rakesh Jain <group_rj@hotmail.com> Dear Mr. Krishnaraj Rao, We have gone through your draft article in your email dated 26th June 2018, which basically comprises of first two paragraphs of background and information about the ‘self explanatory’ order dated 26th April 2018; followed by 3 pointers of your own interpretation of the order and its discussed significance according to you; followed by two paragraphs of words and jargons to sensationalize and popularize your blog. Accordingly, on your assurance of appending our response in verbatim, we state as under: Reg. first two paragraphs:- Time and again you refer us as partner of Bha...

Mumbai, 27th June, 2018: Many FIRs have been filed at Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) against Bhagtani builders for scamming hundreds of people in half a dozen Bhagtani projects, but no FIR has been filed against them for scamming people through the projects of allied builders such as Ravi Group and Origin Realtors LLP. It is high time for such FIRs to be registered against Bhagtanis where the co-accused are Ravi Group builders Ketan Tokershi Shah and Jayesh Tokershi Shah, and also Gaurav Ketan Shah, Yash Jayesh Shah and Bhavya Jayesh Shah of Origin Realtors LLP -- a close-knit family similar to the Bhagtanis. Some Bhagtani victims duped into investing in Shubh Atika are preparing to approach EOW with complaints of cheating, conspiracy and -- most significant of all -- extortion i.e. IPC Section 383 . How extortion? By putting these flat-buyers into fear of irretrievably losing their life-savings, these builders extracted more money from them, and continue to do so.   To unders...