Pune: The Dehu Road police have booked a builder, the manager of a private finance company and another person on the charge of duping a homebuyer of Rs16.3 lakh over the past five years.The third suspect is the homebuyers friend. He had introduced the victim to the builder, sub-inspector Vaibhav Patil of the Dehu Road police said.The police had registered a case under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.We are searching for the trio, Patil said.He said the homebuyer (38), a teaching assistant from Mukhed in Nanded district, wanted to invest in a flat in Pune as he has relatives in the city. He told us on Sunday that his friend offered to help him in buying a flat and introduced him to the builder, constructing a building in Dehugaon, Patil said.Citing the complaint, he said the teaching assistants friend took the victim to the site in Dehugaon and the latter chose a flat. The builder and the complainants friend promised to help him secure a loan from a finance firm for the 1 BHK flat, he said.Patil said the teaching assistant claimed that the builder and his friend collected documents to secure his loan. They took his signatures on various documents. He told us that the flats registration was also done, he said.The teaching assistant told the police that the builder contacted him a few months later and told him that the loan was not sanctioned due to some issues. But he assured the victim that the finance firm manager was his friend and the latter would solve the issue soon.The teaching assistant told us that he got a call from a finance firm about five months later. The caller told him that he did not pay EMI for the home loan of Rs 16.26 lakh sanctioned to him, the police sub-inspector said.The complainant found that the loan was sanctioned to him about five months ago and his friend had paid the first five EMIs. When he contacted his friend, the latter told him that he had taken the loan as he was in need of money. His friend also assured him that the issue would be solved with the help of the firms manager, Patil said, adding that the teaching assistant found that the flat he had booked was sold to a third party.Things came to a head when the finance firm warned him of legal action over the loan. He approached the police when his friend stopped taking calls, Patil said.

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