NASHIK: The Sarkarwada police have arrested a developer in connection with a cheating case involving 197 landlords, builders, and developers. They are accused of circumventing the mandatory 20% reservation for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in residential projects that exceed 4,000 sq m.
The developer, associated with a project in Nashik city, was summoned for questioning on Monday and subsequently taken into custody. The court has remanded him to police detention until March 20.
Senior officials from the Sarkarwada police station indicated they received a list of 197 individuals from the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the tehsil office, connected to 49 projects where allegedly forged documents were used to evade the EWS quota. “We have a total of 197 names of landlords, builders, and developers involved in this case of alleged cheating through forged documents to bypass the 20% reservation,” stated an official.
Many individuals named in the case are reportedly seeking anticipatory bail from their legal counsel.
The FIR was lodged on March 7 following a complaint from an officer in the land records department, on the basis of findings from a committee led by the additional district collector of Nashik. The investigation focused on whether developers complied with the state housing policies from 2013 and 2017, which require that 20% of land in large projects be reserved for EWS housing.
Within NMC limits, reserved housing must be allocated through MHADA.
Investigators discovered that in areas including Mhasrul, Vihitgaon, Wadner Dumala, and others, a total of 104 landlords and 93 builders and developers allegedly manipulated land records. They are accused of subdividing larger plots into smaller parcels to keep their projects below the 4,000 sq m threshold and evade the EWS requirement.
The FIR cites sections 318(4) (cheating), 335 (creating false documents), 336 (forgery), and additional provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
