Man held for using Union minister's name to dupe home-buyer

A man has been arrested for allegedly duping a home-buyer of Rs 4 lakh by claiming he is a relative of a Union minister, police said on Sunday.

An official said Suneet Ratna Preetam Athawale (38) handed over fake documents of a flat constructed by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to complainant Hakeem Saleem Shah after taking Rs 4 lakh.

The accused prepared a bogus letter of allotment of a house in Shimpoli area of Borivali by forging the signature of MHADA president Uday Samant and gave it to Shah.

"When Shah reached the flat, he saw someone else staying there. He spoke to a friend who works in MHADA and got to know that the letter of allotment was fake. Athawale then stopped picking Shah's calls after which the latter filed a complaint about being duped of Rs 4 lakh," the Vakola police station official said.

Athawale was arrested on September 27 from a lodge in CSMT area of south Mumbai.

"He has told us his father was a retired Mantralaya official. He confessed that he had managed to get MHADA houses for some people in return for money earlier before the entire process went online and finished off his business," said the official.

He has been arrested for cheating and forgery and probe is underway to find out if more people were duped by him, the official said.