Vikhroli Police have booked a BJP MLA and four others for cheating a contractor of Rs 6.50 crore. The matter came to light when the victim filed an RTI and sought documents related to a company in which the accused claimed to be partners

Vikhroli Police have booked a BJP MLA and four others for cheating a contractor of Rs 6.50 crore. The matter came to light when the victim filed an RTI and sought documents related to a company Dhanlakshmi Enterprises, in which the accused claimed to be partners. Further investigation revealed that the accused carried out financial transactions based on fake documents.

Redevelopment work offer

According to police, Suresh More, a member of Dhanlakshmi Enterprises had contacted the victim Sachin Kale, a registered partner of Dhanlakshmi Build Tech Company, to redevelop a building in Vikhroli. Thereafter, Kale submitted a proposal and the estimated cost of redevelopment. The proposal was passed in September 2011.



After completing work on the first and second floors of the building, Kale produced a bill before Dhanlakshmi Enterprises. However, the company paid him only half the amount — Rs 45.62 lakh. The payment was made through an Akola Urban Co. Op. Bank cheque and was signed by Balwant Mahalle. Since then he was always paid half of whatever bills he produced.

After completing almost 80 per cent of the work, Kale told Mahalle and MLA Randhir Sawarkar, who also posed as a partner in the company, that his dues had reached Rs 6.50 crore. Sawarkar allegedly asked Kale to re-produce the bills by lowering the cost. In July 2013, he even threatened Kale at gunpoint to stop the work.

Fake financial transactions

In July 2016, when Kale filed an RTI at the registrar's office, he got to know that Mahalle and Sawarkar were not partners in Dhanlakshmi Enterprises and three other people Prakash Pohare, his son Rushikesh Pohare and Anup Dhotre (son of MP Sanjay Dhotre) were also involved in the case. They had opened an account at Akola Urban Co. Op. Bank and were carrying out financial transactions based on fake documents. DCP (Zone-7) Sachin Patil said, "A case has been registered under sections 420, 120B, 504, 506, 205, 207, 193, 199, 341 and 348 of IPC. Further probe into the matter is on."