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...

Read the first-person account of Dr John Paul, an expat who nurtured dreams of gifting a flat to each of his two daughters. To his great misfortune, he was lured into booking two flats in Bhagtani Sapphire at Dahisar. His dreams were dashed to the ground, and his wife's sister also got cheated in the bargain.  Bhagtani Sapphire in Dahisar East, an SRA project of Jaycee Construction Company, was first marketed via several agents who were either company employees or contracted on a commission-basis. They were vigorously convincing people to buy their flats. Many estate agents across Mumbai also issued pamphlets outside places of worship with luring offers and hard-selling words like, “Your Dream house is just 3 years away!” One such pamphlet led me to enquire more, since I had just sold some property in Naigaon and needed to make an investment in estate, as per the rules for taxation, before I could go back to work abroad in a few days. Sadly, the promises of the...

14th October, 2017, Mumbai: After reading Bombay High Court's latest order is in Bhagtani Anticipatory Bail Application no. 1533, the big question is, What should Bhagtani Riyo victims do next? Earlier, we were confident that the court was firmly set on the track of protecting ALL investors of Bhagtani Riyo project, whether they were interveners or not. However, at the present moment, we feel it is advisable for everyone who booked flats in Bhagtani Riyo to become interveners so that they can inform the court if their dues are not settled as per orders . There are many lawyers currently representing interveners. One of them is Advocate Shraddha Dubepatil (Mob: 9920187873).  Below are the things to be hand delivered by the flat allottee (or their Power-Of-Attorney holder) to Adv. Shraddha at Office no. 8, Ground Floor, Raj Mahal Building, Near Ambassador Hotel, Veer Nariman Road, Churchgate. Allotment Letter Cancellation Deed if any Details of payments made / cla...

11th October, 2017, Mumbai: Over 2000 persons who booked flats in four real estate projects, namely Riyo, Serenity, Sapphire and Savannah (and over 100 who booked in less-known projects like Bhagtani B14, Krishaang, and Executive) have been cheated of large chunks of their life savings -- typically between Rs 8 lakhs and 80 lakhs. Roughly half of these are people who booked flats in the Riyo project. A couple of hundred NRIs in USA, UK, Australia, Singapore, Kuwait, Dubai, etc. have lost large amounts, ranging between Rs 25 lakhs to 80 lakhs.  A couple of dozen high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) like doctors have lost Rs 1.5 crore or more.  The total amount collected is conservatively estimated to be upward of Rs 600 crore. This is a total of principal amounts collected, without accounting for interest. Over 400 among them were tricked into signing cancellation deeds and accepting post-dated cheques for as much as 24 to 36 months later. Those cheques w...

Mumbai, 4th October 2017: The order passed by Justice A N Badar for yesterday's proceedings of the Bhagtani Riyo case has deep significance, not only for hundreds of flat buyers, but also for flat-buyers and builders in general.  Download Bombay High Court's order . Below is the operational part of the order. My notes and interpretations are in red below each paragraph of the order. It is seen that investors, who booked apartment in scheme named as ''Bhagtani Riyo' by JVPD Properties Private Limited could not get possession of their apartment on completion of the project. Therefore, informant Sonal Mehta has lodged the report which has resulted in registration of the crime in question. 2. It appears that the land on which the project was to come up is a ''Gurcharan' land and in view of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court, the scheme might not have materialised. (The judge, Mr Badar, is using neutral language. He is not pre-j...

Mumbai, 4th October, 2017: Give a big cheer if you booked a flat in Bhagtani Riyo! Yesterday's Bombay High Court order in Criminal Anticipatory Bail Application no. 1553 of 2017, gave relief to ALL victims of the Bhagtani Riyo Mira Road Project (and not just complainants and interveners). Hundreds of victims of both Riyo 1 and Riyo 2 are happy with the order of Justice A M Badar, who heard the case yesterday. Uploading of the order is keenly awaited! Riyo victims are to be repaid with interest within six months. The amount will clearly exceed the Rs 22 crore mentioned in last week's order by Justice Revati Mohite Dere .   HIGHLIGHTS OF YESTERDAY'S COURT PROCEEDINGS: 1) Dipesh Bhagtani gave an affidavit undertaking to pay Rs 22 crore or more within six months. (The first installment is to be deposited with court before Friday, 13th October, 2017.) To read affidavit, click here . 2)  Repayment will be with 9%, 15% or 18% interest as mentioned in allotment ...

Mumbai, 1st October, 2017: Flat-buyers who have already lost their shirt thanks to Bhagtani builders, return to Bhagtani's office in the desperate hope of getting it back. They come out of the door, thinking that they got their shirt back. Only weeks or months later do they realize that they have lost their pants as well! Repeat-victims are a regular source of money for Bhagtani builders. In an earlier article titled, " Beware of EXCHANGE OFFERS of Bhagtani Builder ", we described how the builder's office entices people who have already booked flats in non-starter projects -- namely Bhagtani Riyo, Sapphire, Savannah and Serenity -- by offering "transfer of their investment" to projects of other builders with whom they have a tie-up. This "transfer" is a magician's trick, an illusion created for financially exploiting the gullible flat purchasers. It is an elaborate hoax, a scam targeting hundreds of people. If you transfer to another pro...