Mumbai: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police recent raided the office of builder Pratik Vira located at Sunshine Tower in Dadar (West). According to the police several documents relating to an alleged fraud of Rs 13.65 crores. The raid is a sequel to an FIR registered against Vira on a complaint made by builder Kashyap Mehta at the Azad Maidan police station.
As per the complaint, in 2002, Mehta, in partnership with Atul Bharani, founded Sunshine Group Pvt. Ltd. Bharani later introduced Jayesh Vira, the father of Pratik Vira, as an investor, granting him a 20 percent share in the company. At Jayesh Vira’s request, the company’s entire accounting work was handed over to Pratik Vira.
According to the FIR, in 2006, the company purchased a 3.75-acre plot in Bhandup (W) to develop two buildings: Samruddhi Garden and Oakwood Plaza. By 2014-15, possession of Wings A and B of Samruddhi Garden was given to 234 buyers, and construction on the other wings and Oakwood Plaza was underway. Subsequently, Pratik Vira was appointed as a director of the Sunshine Group's subsidiary companies.
In 2016, a dispute arose between Pratik Vira and other directors of Sunshine Group Company and it went to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and then National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). As Vira did not get any kind of relief from both the bodies, he filed an appeal against the directors before Supreme Court(SC), which directed the Bombay high court to appoint a mediator and resolve the matter through a settlement agreement. A chartered accountant Sahajwani was appointed as the mediator from the Mediation Center of the high court.
Five options were discussed and the fifth one was considered which stated that, 51% shareholding in the company namely Sunshine Housing Pvt. Ltd. of Sunshine Group was given to Pratik Vira in exchange for his 20% stake in Sunshine Group and the same was agreed upon. In the meeting held on November 29, 2018 and a memorandum of settlement was executed, according to the FIR.
While the settlement discussions were going on, Vira allegedly paid a total of about Rs. 4 Crores from October 31, 2018 as installment of loan taken from L.I.C. Housing Finance Ltd. approximately Rs. 1 Crore every month. Mehta alleged that a conspiracy was orchestrated, where payments made for units under names such as Shivam Ventures, Agam Realty, Lakshya Ventures, and Ishan Investments were actually intended to prevent Sunshine Housing Pvt. Ltd.'s loans from being declared NPAs, as per the FIR.
After taking over the company, Vira allegedly changed its name to Sivana Realty Pvt. Ltd. Just two to three months later, he resigned as director and replaced himself with a few of his close acquaintances and friends as the new nominee directors, stated in the FIR.
Mehta claimed in the FIR, while large sums were being managed by Sivana Realty Pvt. Ltd., the company allegedly avoided paying a due amount of Rs. 13 lakhs to Spartan Engineering Pvt. Ltd. for completed work. This led Spartan to file a petition against Sivana Realty with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). In response, Vira claimed that Sivana Realty lacked the funds to pay Spartan. As a result, the Tribunal declared Sivana Realty insolvent on 11th August 2020 and initiated the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (C.I.R.P.) proceedings.
The complainant alleged, during the C.I.R.P. process, to prevent the company from being included in the list of related parties Vira devised a scheme and out of his 51% shareholding in the company namely Sivana Realty Pvt. Ltd. sold 35% shareholding to a new partner and got benefit from the C.I.R.P. process. Also, by appointing his own friends as partners in the firms viz Shivam Ventures, Agam Realty, Lakshya Ventures, Ishan Investments owned by him and his family.
Mehta claimed in the FIR, that Vira, as the developer, should have completed the Sivana Realty Pvt. Ltd. project and handed over the flats. Instead, he sought to bankrupt the project and claimed units for himself and his firm using invalid documents, causing financial loss to other investors. He allegedly kept and altered drafts and documents from 2018 to create false records.
Mehta alleged that, Vira failed to complete the project, made forged documents and false records to gain financial benefits by appointing a friend as a director to secure 5,251 sq. ft. of property worth over Rs. 13.65 Crores and falsely claimed 71 flats/offices in the Samruddhi Garden and Oakwood Plaza' project. He used allegedly fake documents to file a lawsuit against him and a former director and claimed an extra 14,063 sq. ft from the same project.
Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing has filed an FIR against Vira and others under sections 120(B), 477(A), 474,471, 468,467,465,420 of Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita.
