Summary:
Gautam claimed that he and the other two buyers had booked flats at an under-construction skyscraper in Goregaon (W) but the construction has not progressed beyond the 14th floor slab since 2016.
TV actor Gautam Rode has been cheated with Rs 8 crore. The actor had deposited the said amount for his dream house which was duped and he later lodged a complaint with the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police.
According to a report, Gautam claimed that he and the other two buyers had booked flats at an under-construction skyscraper in Goregaon (W) but the construction has not progressed beyond the 14th floor slab since 2016. According to the FIR, he met developer Atithi Patel in mid 2016 and was told that a 55-storey building was under construction in Goregaon.
The builder claimed to have all necessary permissions and assured possession by December 2018. The actor booked a 2,445 sq ft flat on the 31st floor for Rs 4 crore. He was asked to pay a lump sum amount of Rs 1.5 crore and a monthly instalment of Rs 5 lakh thereafter. The actor made cheque payments of Rs 2.11 crore between May 2016 and March 2017 to the firm, where Patel was director at the time.
The FIR states that Rode was given a booking form but despite his repeated requests, he was not given an allotment letter. Rode has also stated that he asked for the flat to be registered but no agreement was drawn up. When construction work would not progress beyond the 14th slab, Rode asked the developer to refund his money. But he did not get it.
Patel's representative told a leading daily in an email that builders usually don’t refund money after cancellation but they had asked Rode to wait in good faith. The mail added that Rode was delaying registration of the flat. However, the mail was silent about the status of construction at the site.