MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has booked the owner of real estate firm Viva Group, Mehul Thakur, for cheating the managing director of another housing firm of ₹30 crore. Thakur had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case in January 2021 and granted bail in 2023.
According to the police, Thakur, a relative of the former Vasai MLA Hitendra Thakur had, in 2012, approached Rohitashwa Poddar, managing director of Poddar Housing and Development Limited, and told him about his family’s political background. He allegedly told Poddar that he had a stronghold in the Vasai-Virar area and said they could form a joint company and make a lot of money if they bought and developed land from farmers in Vasai and Virar.
Thakur told Poddar that he had a company called Apaar Infrastructure Private Limited where he was a director along with three others. Together, they renamed the company Poddar Vivo Housing Private Limited. When the other three directors retired, Thakur and Poddar became the company’s two owners. However, Thakur allegedly secretly got the three retiring directors to make him the principal signatory of the company.
Thakur and Poddar then decided to buy 75 acres of land for which Poddar Housing and Development Limited would pay ₹56 crore. Poddar then transferred ₹30 crore to a joint bank account, which could be accessed by Thakur, with the remainder of the payment to be made after the land had been acquired from the farmers, said the police.
However, when Poddar realised that the farmers had not been paid, he confronted Thakur who said he wanted to look at other pieces of land to buy. Poddar then checked their joint account and found that the ₹30 crore had been shifted to Viva Holdings, a company belonging to Thakur’s family. When Poddar demanded his money back, Thakur threatened him, he told the police. Thakur’s father Deepak Thakur said he was not aware of the matter and added that his son handled the business.
Poddar finally filed a complaint with the police on June 23. Following his complaint the EOW said they booked Thakur, his father Deepak Thakur, and Vikas Varthak and Radhaye Khanolkar, who were directors in Thakur’s company, under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating), 336 (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security) and 34 (using forged documents or electronic records) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The police are conducting an investigation to recover the money.