Maha: After 2 yrs on run, builder held for cheating homebuyers

A 42-year-old builder wanted for duping over 350 people of several crores by promising them apartments has been arrested in Navi Mumbai township of Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday. Sachin Zende, the proprietor of Amrit Developers and Nisarg Construction, was absconding since last two years and was nabbed by the police on Tuesday.

He allegedly took money from several people and promised them flats, row houses, and plots in Kamothe, Khopoli and Kondale-Chinchawli areas of Panvel, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pravin Kumar Patil said. However, when the customers did not get the properties, they approached the police, he said.

In July 2019, the Navi Mumbai police registered offenses against the builder under Indian Penal Code Section 420 (cheating) and provisions of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Regulation of the Promotion of Construction, Sale, Management and Transfer) Act. Apart from this, four cases of cheating were registered against him at Khandeshwar police station in Navi Mumbai and one at Shivaji Park police station in neighboring Mumbai between 2009 and 2016, he said.

He was also wanted in some cases of cheque bounce. Besides, 182 cases of various offenses against him were pending in consumer courts. In 22 such cases, warrants were also issued against him for not being present during court hearings, the official said. Following his arrest, Zende was produced before a local court which remanded him in police custody till Saturday, he added.

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