Five trustees arrested for duping trust of Rs 9.50 crore in Mumbai

The DB Marg police on Wednesday registered a case of cheating against five trustees of a charitable trust for selling the trust property by preparing forged documents and duping the trust of Rs9.50 crore.

According to the police, the case was registered after the complainant, Neelam Rane, one of the trustees of Shripant Bhuvan Charitable Trust, approached the court following which the court ordered the police to lodge a case and conduct an inquiry into it.

The trust building is located on VP Road at Sandhurst Bridge at Girgaum Chowpatty. The complainant told the police that three trustees — Meena Deshpande, Mahesh Mandar and Vijay Mandar — of the said charitable trust sold three flats to Sameer Zaveri and Hetal Zaveri. The incident happened between March and September this year.

Ajit Surve, senior inspector of DB Marg police station said, “Meena and Mahesh lived in the trust building. The complainant told us that they had prepared forged documents, along with Vijay, and without the consent of other trustees, sold three flats to Sameer and Hetal at the current rates. Apparently, each flat was sold for around Rs14 crore.”

Surve further added that according to the norms of the trust, if a property, which belongs to a charitable trust is sold then 33 per cent of the total amount earned, has to be given to the trust. In this case, 33 per cent on the sale of the three flats amounts to Rs9.50 crore, which the trio have swindled instead of giving it to the trust. Police have also booked Sameer and Hetal for buying the properties from them.

Police said that so far no arrests have been made. They will record the statements of all the parties involved. Considering the huge amount involved in the matter, the case might be transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Crime Branch.

Lesson to be learned: Trust no one
According to the norms of the trust, if a property, which belongs to a charitable trust is sold then 33 per cent of the total amount earned, has to be given to the trust.  The trust building is located on VP Road at Sandhurst Bridge at Girgaum Chowpatty. Three trustees—Meena Deshpande, Mahesh Mandar and Vijay Mandar—of the said charitable trust sold three flats to Sameer Zaveri and Hetal Zaveri.