Pune: Kalepadal police have initiated an investigation after a 74-year-old businessman reported that a real estate agent, along with a female accomplice, fraudulently mortgaged his flat to secure loans totaling ₹2.82 crore.
The FIR, registered on May 13, names Ashok Nopany, a resident of NIBM Road, as the complainant. He alleges that a broker based in Katraj and a woman from Jaysingpur in Kolhapur district forged documents related to his 3BHK apartment located in Gahunje. These falsified papers were used to obtain large loans from two nationalized banks situated in Mumbai and Pune.
Nopany stated that the flat, co-owned by him and his daughter and still under their possession, was mortgaged without their knowledge or approval to secure loans of ₹1.42 crore and ₹1.40 crore respectively. He further pointed out that the banks approved these loans in late 2022 without proper verification, raising suspicions of possible collusion.
According to the complaint, the accused created a bank account in Nopany’s name at a cooperative bank in Akurdi, directing the loan disbursements into this account. Both banks have since initiated proceedings before Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) in Mumbai and Pune, seeking to take possession of the flat as collateral due to defaulted loans.
To halt the property’s auction, Nopany successfully obtained a stay order from a civil court in Wadgaon Maval.
Police inquiries revealed that in August 2022, the broker approached Nopany posing as an interested buyer for the Gahunje flat, offering ₹1.95 crore. Before finalizing the sale, the broker persuaded Nopany to sign a sale agreement with a woman introduced as his “sister,” allegedly to speed up the loan process.
The fraud surfaced in March 2024 when bank officials came to Nopany’s housing society in Gahunje to post auction notices. Upon further legal scrutiny, it was discovered that the woman had forged new documents using photocopies of the original property papers to secure the loans. One bank reported that these forged documents were subsequently used to transfer the sale agreement in favor of the broker.
Following this, the second bank also issued a notice for unpaid dues, bringing the total fraudulent loans secured against the flat to ₹2.82 crore. Nopany stressed that neither bank performed standard due diligence or contacted him before disbursing the loans.
Assistant Police Inspector Amit Shete confirmed that the case has been registered under several sections, including cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery of valuable security, and use of forged documents under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Both accused individuals are currently absconding.
While the banks have not yet lodged criminal complaints, they are aggressively pursuing possession of the property through the DRT process. The police intend to seek detailed procedural reports from the banks regarding their loan sanctioning methods.
