'Lakdawala spent Rs 11.5cr to usurp Rs 50cr Khandala plot'

Mumbai: Builder and financer Yusuf Lakdawala , arrested in a cheating and forgery case , allegedly spent Rs 11.5 crore to usurp a 4.4-acre plot in Khandala worth Rs 50 crore, Mumbai police’s chargesheet has stated.

Last week, Mumbai police’s economic offences wing ( EOW ) filed a 2,200-page chargesheet against Lakdawala along with three others, including a land records official, in connection with the land grabbing case.

Other than Lakdawala, police had arrested estate agents Shaukat Gauri from Andheri and Deepak Gupta from Khandala, and land records official Vikash Dhekle.

The chargesheet stated that Lakdawala paid Rs 4 crore to an absconding accused, Mohan Nair, and Rs 7.5 crore was shared among Gauri, Gupta and Dhekle.

A police source told TOI: “The main absconding accused, Mohan Nair, initially lured Lakdawala saying if he spends a few lakhs, he would help him get a huge piece of land worth several crores.”

“The land belongs to the heirs of the Nizam of Hyderabad who were unaware that a property of theirs was in Khandala,” said a source.

The chargesheet stated that Nair told Lakdawala he knew some officials in the land records department who would forge documents for him.

Police said more than a dozen eyewitnesses have deposed in court. Lakdawala allegedly forged agreement papers dating back to 1949 between his father, the late Mohammad Lakdawala, and the late Nizam. Lakdawala, with Dhekle’s help, tried to destroy the land records and include forged documents, said the source. The accused allegedly obtained an affidavit and a deed of confirmation using these fake documents.

Lakdawala (74) was arrested on April 20 from Ahmedabad airport following an EOW lookout notice (LOC) while he was allegedly trying to fly out to London.