70-year-old John Payne, a Mazgaon resident, got the shock of his life when he returned from a vacation only to find a stranger living in his home.
The stranger Mohammed Rajkotwala claimed that he had bought this flat for Rs 41,50,000.
The mystery was resolved when John Payne realized that his 32-year-old domestic servant, Dheeraj Parmar, had got another person to pose as the owner of the house in Payne's absence, and sold it off to Rajkotwala, reports Mumbai Mirror.
Payne had been staying in this house for the past 30 years under the ‘pagdi' system and Parmar had been working as his domestic help. “It was during this time that Payne allegedly told Parmar that he would leave the flat to him after his death,” the officer said.
But Parmar got greedy and he decided to sell off the tenancy rights of the flat by fraud. He managed to convince Charles Pascal D'Souza to pose as Payne. In the month of January, when Payne was visiting his relations at Mira Road, he asked Parmar to go to his house at Mazgaon and switch off the refrigerator.
Using this opportunity, Parmar managed to enter the house and stole some important documents – ration card, voter card and telephone bills. “He got computer expert to scan D'Souza's photographs and put them on the voter card and other places, so that the fake documents looked real,” Ghavte said.
When all the documents were ready, he contacted some local estate agents and told them that the particular flat was for sale. “Mohammed Rajkotwala, a prospective buyer showed interest in purchasing the flat. Parmar brought him to the house, while D'Souza pretended to be Payne,” he said. On seeing the documents, Rajkotwala was convinced that he was the real owner and paid them an amount of Rs 41.50 lakh.
As per the rule, Rs 18.50 lakh was paid to the office of the landlord at Andheri, after which the transfer of tenancy rights got completed.
“After this, Parmar paid off D'Souza and others who had helped him in the fraud, and himself kept the lion's share of Rs 23 lakh,” he added.
It was only when Payne came back from his vacation on January 27 that he realised, Parmar had committed a fraud and lodged a complaint at the Byculla Police Station.
“During investigations, we found out how Parmar had carried out the fraud. We have booked him under various sections for cheating and committing forgery,” said Assistant Police Commissioner, Jayant Sarmokkadam.
Incidentally, Parmar had booked three flats at Vasai with the ill-gotten wealth and these have also been seized, the officer said.
“We have arrested D'Souza along with the computer expert, Sandeepani Manjrekar, who had helped in the fraud,” Ghavte said.
The main accused, Parmar had suffered a paralytic attack on his right leg and has been admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment and will be arrested immediately after his discharge, the officer said.
