MUMBAI: A sessions court that recently discharged cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal’s son, Pankaj, and nephew, Sameer, and two others accused of cheating those who had purchased flats in a Navi Mumbai development project called Hexworld, observed that prima facie it cannot be inferred that there was an intention of Devisha Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (DIPL) or its directors to cheat the flat buyers.
The court said that at most it can be said that there was a breach of the contract between the construction company and the flat purchasers.
“The lodging of FIR by the informant (one of the flat buyers) was prima facie appearing to be an attempt to resolve the civil dispute by giving it colour of criminal offence. No fraudulent or dishonest intention at the time of accepting the booking amount from the customer is seen,” additional sessions judge H S Satbhai said. The court said that the prosecution has not made out a prima facie case against the accused.
The court pointed out that due to obstructions at the construction sites, including those involving Cidco and environmental activists, progress in construction was stalled. The property was also attached by the Enforcement Directorate in 2015 in connection with money laundering cases. It said that the inaction in further construction was not wilful or deliberate. The court held that the circumstances were beyond the control of the company, which prevented it from handing over possession in 2012. “There was a just and valid cause, which prevented M/s Devisha Infrastructure Private Limited and its directors to complete the project and handover the constructed flats to the purchasers,” the court said.
The Bhujbals and two others, Rajesh Dharap and Satyen Kesarkar, who were directors of DIPL, were discharged from offences relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy under the IPC, and also under provisions of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act. The court said that the case will proceed against the fifth accused. The case will come up for hearing on October 7.
