Mumbai: Seven months after Mumbai police registered an FIR in a land-grab case in Kandivli, the property cell of the city crime branch last week filed a chargesheet against five accused. TOI was the first to report on the case last August. Of the 17 acres, 10 acres were reserved for public purposes and had already been surrendered to the BMC. However, the accused allegedly sold the BMC portion to a third party. The accused, Rinkesh Vadilal Shah, his late father Vadilal Shah, Jagdish Bhat, Girish Bhat, Suresh Bhat and Vatsala Joshi, allegedly executed sale deeds between 2024 and 2025, by submitting defective declarations in the name of deceased people. Probe found fabricated ownership claims, continued property tax payments in deceased persons’ names and wrongful conveyance of society-held and reserved plots to create false title and monetary gain, said the chargesheet. The accused have been booked for cheating, forgery and under the Registration Act 1908. The case was filed by BMC officials in August last year alleging that the original land owners along with the developers fraudulently sold the BMC acquired land to third parties based on power of attorney. According to investigation records, the Kandivli land was originally purchased by Nanubhai Bhat in 1943. Out of the total 67,932sq. m. land, approximately 29,969 sq. m. was reserved for public purposes under the 1967 Development Plan, and was to be transferred to the BMC, while the remaining unreserved portion was to be developed. To facilitate development, Nanubhai Bhat and his heirs formed M/s Indian Plumbingo in 1973 and entered into agreements with developer U.B. Luthria and Elel Hotels and Investment between 1974 and 1978. In Dec 1978, the reserved plot was formally transferred to the Municipal Corporation, and 18 buildings were subsequently constructed on the unreserved land through various housing societies using increased FSI linked to the surrender of the reserved land. Investigators found that although the developer and architect were required to demarcate the reserved land and record the Municipal Corporation’s name on the property card, this condition was never fulfilled despite official correspondence in 1985 and 1989. The land records continued to reflect Nanubhai Bhat’s name until 2001. The probe further states that in 2004, Jagdish Bhat allegedly executed a power of attorney in favour of Vadilal Shah and Vijay Sheth for the entire 17-acre land, despite authority being limited to only about 7 acres and 12 guntas. Officials allege that this expanded authority was misused. Despite the disputed ownership and the fact that some alleged executants of the power of attorney were deceased, the firm M/sShah & Sons, run by Vadilal Shah and his son Rinkesh Shah, allegedly sold multiple plots between Oct 2024 and Jan 14, 2025, by submitting a defective declaration regarding the power of attorney at the Sub-Registrar’s Office.
