MUMBAI: City-based architects Pronit Nath and Amisha Nath said they have been falsely named in a Rs 1 crore cheating case filed by actor and television presenter Samir Kochhar and his friend, real estate company director Varun Bangera, and that it was the duo that had defaulted on payment for two flats.
Kochhar and Bangera had filed a complaint with Andheri police on November 21 alleging that the architects had duped them of around Rs 1 crore paid as total token amount for one flat each in the under-construction Bandra (West) building.
“It was Kochhar and Bangera who had failed to make timely payment as per the memorandum of understanding we had signed, which was rendered null and void due to default and non- payment,” Nath told TOI on Monday.
Kochar had decided to buy one flat on the third floor and Bangera on the fourth floor of the upcoming four-storey building.
Nath said the duo claimed they had sold the disputed third- and fourth-floor flats to one Sachaet Pandey, “when, in fact, we had sold a first-floor property to Mr Pandey. It is legally registered in the registrar’s office for all to see through RTI. They are trying to turn this into a criminal case while this is an ongoing civil case that is sub judice in the Bombay high court”.
Nath further said the two third- and fourth-floor properties have not been sold yet since they are under litigation.
Police had said the FIR against the architects stated they had sold the flats to another party after collecting Rs 58.5 lakh from Kochhar and Rs 44.7 lakh from Bangera.
