Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has come down heavily on the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police for a lacklustre probe into the alleged Rs 45 crore fraud by developers Imtiyaz Maredia, Pyarali Maredia and others, who are accused of duping 139 homebuyers under the pretext of constructing luxury residential towers named Meridian Heights in Jogeshwari. The project has remained incomplete since 2008.
A division bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Gautam Ankhad, while hearing a plea filed by the aggrieved homebuyers, expressed deep dissatisfaction with the pace and quality of investigation, which has been under EOW’s Housing-II Unit.
HC criticises EOW’s handling of ₹45 crore scam probe
The court had, on July 7, directed Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Sangramsing Nishandar to file a personal affidavit explaining the steps taken in the investigation. In his affidavit dated July 15, Nishandar attempted to attribute the lack of progress to an order passed by a Sessions Court in April 2024, which granted the accused protection from arrest in their anticipatory bail application (ABA).
“We find this ground to be a lame excuse,” the court remarked. “The applicants in ABA had merely sought protection against a probable action of arrest. No embargo was placed on investigation.”
Accused withdrew crores before account freezing, court notes delay
The judges pointed out glaring gaps and delays, particularly in the tracing and freezing of financial assets. Large sums — including Rs 45 crore — had been parked in accused’s bank accounts post-FIR, but were allowed to be withdrawn before any freezing action was taken. For instance, in one ICICI Bank account, Rs 45.01 crore was credited and later withdrawn, after which the account was frozen.
Similarly, in two other bank accounts, Rs 13.13 crore and Rs3.16 crore were deposited and later withdrawn before freezing of the accounts.
Failure to attach assets, vague responses to agencies irk court
The court also noted that investigators had failed to attach any personal properties or vehicles of the accused, and documents repeatedly cited in the affidavit were not annexed. “It is as if the affiant does not desire that this Court should see those documents,” the bench observed.
Further, the court pulled up the officers for blaming the Income Tax Department and the Sub-Registrar’s Office for lack of cooperation, when their own communication seeking information was vague and perfunctory.
“A false blame is put on the Income Tax Department whereas the Senior Police Inspector heading the investigating team has himself shown laxity and negligence,” the court said.
While the affidavit claimed that “every possible effort” had been made to trace the assets and roles of the accused, the bench remarked, “The least said the better, if any reaction is to be shown to the above statement.” It added, “An order dealing with apprehended arrest was conveniently treated as a blanket embargo on investigation.”
HC directs EOW probe team’s replacement, new team to be formed
The court concluded that the petitioners had “justifiably lost confidence” in the current investigating team and ordered that the entire team be replaced. The Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Lakhmi Gautam, has been directed to constitute a fresh investigation team.
An FIR in the case was registered at Amboli police station in September 2023 under multiple sections of cheating and criminal breach of trust. The accused had collected funds for the proposed Meridian Heights towers, but the project never took off, leading to allegations of diversion of money for personal gains.
