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, 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, 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...

Mumbai, 10th May, 2018: Hundreds of cheated home-buyers of Bhagtani builders (also known as Jaycee Homes and JVPD Properties) are running from pillar to post, trying to recover lakhs and crores of rupees that they paid for booking flats. Circumstances have led most victims to believe that Diipesh, Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani have no money. People have become almost convinced that over Rs 450 crore collected towards Riyo, Sapphire, Serenity and Savannah projects has somehow magically vanished like water poured on desert sand. "EOW officers say that they have freezed all the accounts,  and all accounts have zero balance," say victims who are in regular touch with the police. But if this is true, then how did Bhagtani repay an SBI loan of Rs 12.40 crore in April 2018? Look at this screenshot from Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) website: If you can't believe your eyes, read this Certificate of Satisfaction of Charge   issued by Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Ye...

Mumbai, 17th April 2018: Many significant developments are happening in the case of Bhagtani Horizon in Goregaon, which shows that (1) Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani are continuing to play an active role through RERA and courts although they are absconding from Indian law-enforcement agencies and courts (2) they are organizing their allottees through WhatsApp groups (3) they are registering Agreements of Sale where it suits them, and (4) RERA recently passed an order upholding the right of Bhagtani allottees to enter into registered agreements , and directing Bhagtani to do so. Bhagtani Horizon's 8-storey frame. Construction stopped in June 2016. These developments should be studied by other Bhagtani projects, especially the RERA-registered ones like Serenity and Krishaang, as they have implications for them also.   NOTE: There are discrepancies between what the RERA website shows and what the ground realities are. The RERA website shows only 27 flats, whereas Ja...