The Brave Pedestrian

22 nd June, 2016, Mumbai: When builder Anil Aggarwal's Skyline Construction Co approached Axis Bank for a project loan for RNA Exotica in 2011, the bankers forgot simple arithmetic. On two separate instances -- in 2011 and in 2013 -- Axis Bank's SME loans division gave loans of Rs 75 crore and Rs 100 crore against hugely inflated mortgages of floor space in RNA Exotica. The flat size was inflated by 500 to 700 square feet per flat, and the number of unsold flats mortgaged was inflated by a couple of hundred flats in 2013. Anil Aggarwal, like Anil Kapoor (you know, the chap who sang, "One-two-ka-four, four-two-ka-one, my name is Lakhan") sang a seductive song to Axis Bank executives, who were more than willing to be seduced . The late Anil Aggarwal's version of one-two-ka-four sounds like this: "770 square feet flat ka 1299 and 979 sq. ft. ka 1650... My name is RNA Corp! Jadoogar Anil Aggarwal said 168 sold flats in 2011, but 66 sold flats in 2013. N...

19 th June, 2016, Mumbai: Welcome to RNA Exotica, a premium building project by Skyline Construction Co, where deadlines keep slipping and the number of flats to be constructed keeps shrinking year after year. The number of flats to be constructed has dropped by at least 80 since March 2011, and project completion date has slipped by six years. (Yes, you read that right -- six whole years!) Further shrinkage and slippage is definitely forecast. Also, visible manipulation of official facts and figures should make investors wonder what is going on behind the scenes.  I m age: http://bit.ly/1W6IFnf The gory details: In Axis Bank's first mortgage deed registered in March 2011, RNA Exotica's project completion date was mentioned as September 2012 . Given the amount of work that had to be completed within 18 months by Skyline Construction Co, the deadline was obviously a bare-faced lie. Axis Bank's first loan to RNA's Skyline Construction Co for...

Mumbai, 25th  February, 2016: Common people rarely turn up in good numbers to openly speak out against powerful builders, and so it was an unusual sight that about 200 rich and poor persons aggrieved by RNA Corp (owned by late Anil Aggarwal, Gokul Aggarwal, Anubhav Aggarwal and Saranga Aggarwal) stage a roadside gathering near Versova, Andheri West, to speak out against RNA Builders. In this unusual gathering on the morning of Sunday, 21st  February, 2016, the well-to-do persons were aggrieved buyers who had booked flats in various RNA projects such as RNA Exotica in Oshiwara, and RNA Palazzo and RNA Grande in Kandivali. The poorer participants were those dishoused and dispossessed by RNA's SRA or MHADA redevelopment projects. Many in the gathering boldly voiced their grievances before a handheld video camera, knowing that every word that they said was being recorded for publishing in the public domain. A major chunk of the gathering, who had already formed associations for ...