MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police has closed the second cheating case filed against three directors of Nirmal Lifestyle: Dharmesh Jain, Rajeev Jain, and Puja Jain. This decision came after they refunded the money to the 12 investors of the Nirmal Lifestyle Home Buyers Redressal Association and filed consent terms.
Last year, the EOW closed another case against the Jains, including the manager of the Videocon Group, Chandrakant Dhoot, and Venugopal Dhoot. The EOW recently filed a closure report classifying it as ‘C’ summary. A ‘C summary’ a record is filed in instances where the FIR is observed to be primarily based on a mistake of fact.
The case was closed following the settlement agreement between the complainant and developers. While the developers’ failure to deliver the promised flats to 34 flat buyers and dishonoured refund cheques initially led to criminal charges, the case was resolved through financial settlements. The company agreed to settle all pending dues and refund the amounts to the remaining buyers, marking the closure of this long-standing fraud case, stated the closure report.
This settlement was formalised in court, and the plaintiffs agreed to withdraw their complaints upon receiving their dues. The plaintiffs, including 34 members of the Nirmal Lifestyle Home Buyers Redressal Association, alleged that the company accepted payments for flats in various projects but failed to deliver possession or refund the amounts as promised. The builder gave receipts, allotment letters, and letters of intent to home buyers and assured them of delivering their flats by December 2019.
The projects in question include “One Spirit,” “Omega,” “Panorama,” “Olympia,” “Sports City,” and “Lifestyle City Kalyan.” The association made multiple allegations, accusing them of accepting money from home buyers but failing to deliver possession of flats. The second allegation was that the developer allegedly took more than 20% of the sale price from several flat buyers without issuing any allotment letters or registering agreements. The company obtained permits for multiple residential projects (Omega, One Spirit, Panorama, and Olympia), but the construction never began, leaving buyers with unfulfilled promises.The company was charged under Sections 406, 409, 420, 120(b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Sections 3, 4, 5, 8, and 13 of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA), for criminal breach of trust, cheating, and conspiracy to defraud buyers. The Enforcement Directorate also took cognisance and conducted a search of their offices.
Police said they conducted detailed investigations with the BMC, MHADA, and building proposal departments in Mumbai and Thane and collected crucial pieces of evidence. The accused obtained preliminary permits from the Building Proposal Department of Mumbai and Thane for construction on the project sites. However, no construction activity commenced despite these approvals.
In the closure report, police said their investigation revealed that Nirmal Lifestyle Ltd. was facing severe financial difficulties, which led to the delay in construction and failure to honour refund cheques. These difficulties were cited as the primary reason for the company’s inability to complete its projects.
“Based on the investigation findings, the authorities recommended closure of the case on the grounds that Nirmal Lifestyle Ltd. started returning the amounts due to buyers,” said an official.
