Thane In a major development in the RERA certificate scam case where 65 builders were booked, the Special Investigating Team (SIT) has arrested five persons, including a woman, who helped them prepare fraudulent documents for acquiring the RERA certificates and build illegal structures in Kalyan-Dombivli vicinity. However, none of the 65 developers are arrested.
“We have arrested five persons who have helped the builders with fraudulent documents. The accused will be produced before the Kalyan court on Saturday. There are builders, contractors and land owners involved in the case. Total nine accused were identified, however, out of that four have died, the remaining five have been arrested,” said a SIT officer who did not wish to be named.
After the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) lodged a complaint, a total of 65 developers were booked by the Manpada and Dombivli police station. The cases were then transferred to the Thane crime branch and a SIT was formed to investigate the case.
Those arrested in the case have been identified as Priyanka Sitaram Raorane (Mayekar), Pravin Tamhankar, Rahul Baburao Navsagare, Jaydeep Tribhuvan and Kailas Gaode. The team however is investigating on their background and their works.
“They are all from Dombivli, they created the fake documents for illegal construction. We are questioning them for more details to get their background and more insight into the case,” added the officer.
The entire scam came into limelight after a city-based architect Sandeep Patil through RTI and PIL in the Bombay high court in 2021 highlighted the fraud by the builders followed by which the civic body lodged FIR against these builders at local police stations.
Serving notices to the 65 builders, the KDMC has asked them to submit documents failing which the buildings will be identified as illegal and later demolished. However, Patil who has been following up the case claimed the KDMC has not been able to identify the buildings yet which is a major loophole in the case.
“The SIT is doing their job very effectively and they have even visited the building sites, while the KDMC is not sure about the buildings and its locations. The civic body claims to have served the notices and washed their hands. The civic body should have the list in hand and know which are these buildings and take necessary steps. However, there is a lackadaisical approach by the civic body in this crucial case,” said Patil.
“We are working on identifying those buildings for which we have asked the concerned developers to submit the documents and we have served them notice accordingly,” said a KDMC officer on the condition of anonymity.
