Members of a Housing Society Arrested for Cheating & Forgery
The Vile Parle Mumbai police on Wednesday arrested five members of the managing committee of a housing society for cheating and forgery. The police said the members, of the Om Madhusudan Cooperative Housing Society, had used the name of a dead person to get the society registered. On a directive by the metropolitan magistrate’s court, Andheri police arrested five members of the managing committee. Last week, the five had been remanded in four-day judicial custody.
The police action came after the court observed that the police officer concerned was duty-bound to register a case upon receiving information disclosing cognizable offence. The FIR had been filed by Malad resident Alka Chandewar (50), who complained that her father had bought a flat in the society. In 1991, the deputy registrar, societies, passed an order for registering the society. “Soon, it was found that my father’s name had been used as a committee member despite his death. We challenged this and filed a complaint,” said Chandewar.
But the problem aggravated, she said. “The secretary of the building started forcing my 80-year-old mother to sell the 1,240-sq ft flat for only Rs 45 lakh. When we refused, I was arrested in 2007 after the BMC charged me with offences under the stringent Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act for allegedly carrying out commercial activities in my mother’s house.”
But the court observed subsequently that there was no evidence to prove that any commercial activities had taken place in the house and acquitted Chandewar. It also pointed out that she was neither occupier nor owner of the flat. As per the court order, Chandewar’s arrest was an “error of judgment” and it was doubtful that a BMC junior engineer had “actually even visited the site” before passing the civic order.
An investigating officer from the Vile Parle police station said the accused were arrested under charges of forgery, cheating and misappropriation of funds. “To get the society registered, the committee had shown eight members, of which one was dead. There were also problems with the way they were managing the accounts. We arrested them on June 30. They were in custody till July 4, when they were bailed out. “The investigation into the matter is still on. We are scrutinizing the documents.”
Arrested managing committee of a housing society for cheating and forgery, Malad Mumbai, Malad residents, Misappropriation of funds, Residents of Housing Societies, Vile Parle Mumbai
