The Brave Pedestrian

  Kalpataru Serenity at Manjri in Pune is a much-sought-after gated community. Seekers of premium flats are attracted to this exclusive housing project by the glossy brochures and slick sales talk. Miha Hribar, a foreign national, and his wife Padmashree Ghangale, an NRI, were no different. But when they got possession of their flat in early 2019, they were so shocked by the harsh ground realities that they wanted to give the flat back, and get their money back. Needless to say, Kalpataru builders did not oblige, and their sales office reportedly came across in a rude and threatening manner when Miha and Padmashree persisted. The angry couple aired their dissatisfaction in a YouTube video, and the builder slapped them with a defamation notice. In an interview with the NRI couple, I set out to understand their grievances and issues with these developers and their so-called premium flat. Download the notice of defamation served to flat-buyers Miha & Padmashree by email: https:/...

  Padmashree Ghangale and her Slovenian husband Miha Hribar were shocked to discover that the 781 sq ft carpet area flat that Padmashree bought at Kalpataru Serenity while working abroad is smaller by 206 sq feet. In other words, her flat at Kalpataru Serenity, Manjri, Pune, is about 36 percent smaller than promised. It is by no stretch of imagination a spacious flat. The bedrooms are tiny. The couple, who returned from Europe to settle down in India, were running from pillar to post in search of justice to make Kalpataru to either give them a flat that is of the proper carpet area, or else refund their hard-earned money with interest and compensation. ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST BY Krishnaraj Rao 9821588114 and 8169471229 Krish.kkphoto@gmail.com

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, 9th September, 2018: Victims of Bhagtani Serenity are experiencing a powerful current sweeping them towards settlement with the Bhagtani builders. What the builders want is a clean chit i.e. withdrawal of criminal complaints, quashing of FIRs, and closure of proceedings under Negotiable Instruments Act. What they are offering in exchange is conveyance of Serenity project land and/or transfer of development rights in favour of "Serenity Welfare Association". Invitation to the first meeting of this association is being circulated on Whatsapp. It says: Dear All, 1st Meeting of ''SERENITY WELFARE ASSOCIATION" Expect to be held on 23 September 2018..... All Serenity  Member's (Buyers) are Requested to Attend..... Time: BTN 10:00 -11:00 AM Venue : Serenity Plot or as Decided by Member's (Buyers) Has this association been formed and registered? Has a civil case already been filed by this association? It is doubtful. But it appears that the lea...

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, 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...