Cops to file report on buyers hit by stalled DSK projects

Swati Chavan, an accounts officer with a private company, had booked a flat in 2013 in “DSK Vishwa”, a project by the D S Kulkarni group, in Dhayari. She paid 90% of the Rs57 lakh cost of the flat to the firm, but still waits for her dream home that she was promised to be handed over in 2017. “The bank from where I secured a home loan for is already deducting the EMIs and I am still living in a rented place,” she said. Another home buyer, who did not wish to be named, said he has paid 80% of the Rs80 lakh cost of a flat he had booked in the “DSK Dream City” project. “I have lost all my savings. The bank is deducting EMIs against the home loan I took three years ago. I am still not sure when will I get my flat,” he said. Like Swati Chavan, there are 214 other home buyers who find themselves in the lurch because of the eight stalled DSK housing projects in the wake of the alleged multi-crore rupees economic fraud by developer D S Kulkarni, alias DSK, and his group of companies. The Pune police are in the process of preparing a report in relation to the homebuyers affected by the DSK projects and will submit it to a city court in relation to a case under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA) registered against the developer. The police have so far recorded statements of as many as 215 homebuyers, who invested money in the eight projects since 2013. These individuals have obtained housing loans from various financial institutions and their equated monthly instalments (EMIs) are being debited every month. However, they still wait for their dream home which were promised to them by the end of 2017. Santosh Honkarpe, who had booked two flats in 2013 at the “DSK Anandghan’ project, which is part of the “DSK Vishwa”, had lodged a complaint with the Shivajinagar police station in December 2017. Honkarpe said in the FIR that as per an agreement with the developer, he was supposed to get possession of the flats in 2016. He, however, realized that construction at the site had halted for some reasons. To add to his worries, nobody at the site gave him satisfying answers. When Honkarpe contacted the builder, he did not give any assurances to him. The Shivajinagar police have registered a case under the sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and relevant sections of Maharashtra Ownership Flat Act (MOFA) against DSK, his wife, Hemanti, their son Shirish, and his wife, Tanvi, Vijaykumar Jagtap and SahindraBawale. DSK, his wife, their son and other officials of the company have been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Pune police since February in relation to the economic fraud that involves raising money through fixed deposits, home buyers, non-convertible debentures and loans from banks and siphoning of this money to other purposes. Over 2,500 FD holders have submitted their statements to the EOW. “We are still investigating the MOFA case. As of now, Kulkarni has been arrested in the cheating case involving FDs,” assistant commissioner of police (EOW) Nilesh More said. “Since DSK and other officials from his company are lodged in jail, it is unlikely that the construction of the stalled housing projects will commence in the near future,” he said. “The eight construction sites are located in Dhayari, Phursungi, Pirangut, Bavdhan and other parts of the city. We are recording statements of home buyers. Their number may go up gradually. We will submit the entire record of these statements and our findings to the court,” More said.