Developer accused of selling reserved land

A shocking case has come to light where a developer allegedly sold 14,044 square feet of land meant for roads and other civic amenities in a sanctioned layout in a fraudulent manner. The land is located in Survey No. 24 of Itkheda. Following this, 34 plot owners have approached the Satara Police Station and the Economic Offenses Wing(EOW), demanding action against the developer.

Sanjay Sonone (Garkheda area) had obtained tentative approval for a layout in Survey No. 24 in the Itkheda area in 1989. He sold 60 plots as per the approved layout but failed to transfer the internal roads and open spaces to the municipal corporation. Instead, he altered the sanctioned layout of Plots 50, 51, 18 and 19 to increase their areas and sold the additional land in the names of his relatives without obtaining permission from the town planning department. The complaint alleges that the original plot sizes of 50, 51, 18 and 19 were 2,017, 2,411, 2,017 and 2,017 square feet, respectively. However, these were increased to 5,609, 6,752, 5,271 and 5,271 square feet by encroaching on reserved municipal land. This has led to the cheating of buyers who purchased plots 10 to 35 years ago, as mentioned in the complaint lodged by the 34 plot owners.

Investigation underway by satara Police and Economic Offenses Wing(EOW)

The Satara Police and EOW have launched investigations based on the complaints lodged by the plot owners. The complainants have stated that inquiries are ongoing at both places. Attempts to contact the developer, Sanjay Sonone, for a response were unsuccessful, as he did not answer calls.