4 BMC officials booked over certificates issued

The Agripada police has registered an FIR against four BMC officials for issuing an occupancy certificate to an illegal construction in Dadar area. They have also named the architect and real estate developer of the said building for committing forgery and cheating.

The incident came to light when an activist looked into the construction of a building identified as ‘Civic Centre’ located in Dhaturwadi area of Dadar (east) of the BMC. The building is a residential and commercial structure and was built in 2012.

“The complainant found that the builders and architects had submitted a different plan while building it but the completed structure was in complete contravention to the original plan. He also alleged that the BMC officials knew about the discrepancies but yet went ahead and issued occupancy certificate,” said a senior officer from Agripada police station

Sources alleged that the BMC officials had issued bogus occupancy certificates to facilitate the needs of the real estate developer.

The FIR has been lodged against A. Anokar, executive deputy chief engineer, N.P. Mane, executive engineer, N.S. Rangekar, assistant engineer and MK Asudani, engineer. The real estate developer has been identified as Ramakant Jadhav of M/S Fine Tone Realtors Private limited and Vilas Avchat who was the architect of the project. The BMC officials are posted in the ‘E’ Ward of the Matunga Division of BMC. The Agripada police which is investigating the case is yet to make any arrests. “We have lodged the FIR alleging fake certificates and an illegal construction. We will look into the allegation,” said Ashok Sarambalkar, senior inspector.