A serious case of cheating involving the sale of a residential flat has come to light in the Marol area of Andheri East, where fraudsters allegedly duped two different buyers of a total of ₹56 lakh by promising to sell the same flat. The incident took place at Lok Sarita Cooperative Housing Society. One of the victims, IT engineer Riyazuddin Sheikh (36), has lodged a complaint with the Powai Police.
According to the complaint, in February 2025, Riyazuddin was searching for a new flat for his family when he came across an attractive advertisement on the real estate portal 99acres.com. Soon after, a man identifying himself as estate agent Raj Singh alias Darshan Sharma contacted him and offered a flat in Lok Sarita Society for sale. After viewing photos and videos, Riyazuddin visited the flat on February 13, 2025, for inspection.
At the time of inspection, the alleged owner Balkrishna Venugopal, his wife Bhanumati Venugopal, their son Vivek Venugopal, agent Raj Singh, and Akash Tiwari were present. The deal was finalised at ₹1.30 crore. When the complainant questioned the comparatively low price, the accused claimed they urgently needed money to purchase property in Kerala and pressured him to make an immediate payment.
Riyazuddin initially paid ₹5 lakh online as token money. Later, under continued pressure, he arranged ₹25 lakh in cash by selling his wife’s and mother’s jewellery and borrowing from acquaintances. In total, ₹30 lakh was handed over to the accused. An MoU was signed on February 17, 2025, stating that the amount would be refunded within 45 days if the deal was cancelled.
Despite this, on March 12, 2025, the accused allegedly took another ₹6 lakh from the complainant via RTGS. As the registration date was repeatedly postponed and necessary documents were not provided, Riyazuddin grew suspicious. On April 7, 2025, the accused abruptly cancelled the deal. Although they issued a cheque while assuring repayment, it later bounced due to a stop-payment instruction.
Further inquiry with the society chairman revealed that the flat already had an existing loan. It also emerged that the same flat had been shown to another buyer, Bharat kumar Suryavanshi, from whom the accused had taken ₹20 lakh.
Police investigations revealed that between February and May 2025, Balkrishna Venugopal, Bhanumati Venugopal and Vivek Venugopal cheated the two victims of a total of ₹56 lakh in the name of selling the flat. Based on the complaint, Powai Police have registered a case under sections related to cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, and further investigation is underway.