Judicial custody for builder till Oct 3; Rs77L found in cupboard

Mumbai: The Azad Maidan police seized Rs 77 lakh found during a search on Monday at Pujit Agarwal promoted Orbit Corporation’s Worli office. “We are verifying if income tax was paid for this, and if the money is accounted for,” said Vijay Kadam, senior inspector, Azad Maidan police. “We seized three laptops and two hard disks from Orbit’s office, and a computer which was in Pujit’s use.We have to scan all information related to our project,” added Kadam.
Azad Maidan police had arrested the builder, and a local magistrate had remanded him to three-day police custody till September 12. The arrest followed a complaint filed by Capri Global Capital Ltd (CGCL) against Orbit Corporation and its promoters, Ravi Kiran Aggarwal and his son, Pujit for cheating it of Rs 2.53 crore over three flats it had booked in Orbit Residency Park, at Sakinaka, Andheri, only to find they were mortgaged to LIC Housing Finance Ltd, and were up for auction.
The hard disks will be sent to the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory to retrieve information, if required. The search team also seized 230 sale and purchase documents of the project. “We froze six bank accounts related to the case,” he said. Police said they have not yet arrested Pujit’s father in the case as he has also been mentioned as an accused. “We will arrest Pujit’s father too if they don’t cooperate,” said an officer.
Meanwhile a local magistrate on Tuesday remanded Pujit Aggrawal in judicial custody till October 3 in an alleged case of cheating registered with the Azad Maidan police. But in another case of cheating, registered by the Economic Offences Wing against Pujit and his company, the magistrate allowed the agency to take his custody.
The EOW had registered an FIR a few months ago but filed an application before the Esplanade court on Tuesday seeking his custody. Pujit’s lawyers, Amit Desai and Subhash Jadhav, told the additional chief metropolitan magistrate that police no longer require his custody in the Azad Maidan case. Desai argued for his judicial custody, saying, “The FIR is of May 2016, and police have all necessary documents, and thus do not need his custody for further interrogation.’’
Azad Maidan police had arrested the builder, and a local magistrate had remanded him to three-day police custody till September 12. The arrest followed a complaint filed by Capri Global Capital Ltd (CGCL) against Orbit Corporation and its promoters, Ravi Kiran Aggarwal and his son, Pujit for cheating it of Rs 2.53 crore over three flats it had booked in Orbit Residency Park, at Sakinaka, Andheri, only to find they were mortgaged to LIC Housing Finance Ltd, and were up for auction.
Public prosecutor Rajendra Suryavanshi had earlier said Rs 260 crore was given by LICHFL to Orbit, and of this, Rs 178 crore was spent. He said the 82 who booked flats were not given a full disclosure, and 34 of them complained to the police.
Pujit told police his project at Sakinaka was delayed due to a government circular revoking additional FSI and slow marketing. “He had permission to construct only 30 floors, but he collected money from buyers for 40 floors. The project comprises six buildings. He had taken Rs 260 crore from LIC and repaid around Rs 173 crore; 230 flats’ money was paid by customers/investors. We are trying to find out where this money went,” said Kadam. Police have also got bank statements of six accounts, now frozen, to establish the money trail.