A Mumbai court, on Thursday, granted bail to 63-year-old Hemanti Deepak Kulkarni (wife of DSK and Director in DSK Group of Companies) after four years of detention in Yerwada Central Jail since 2018 in the main FIR for alleged siphoning of Rs. 2091 Crores. Advocate Aashutosh Srivastava, who represented kulkarnis’, briefed the media about the bail order. The counsel convinced the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dadar, through hours of arguments in the present FIR.
“My client was arrested (in August 2018) in the present FIR under sections 420 and 34 of IPC and the Court considered the merit of the case to grant her bail today,” Aashutosh Srivastava said.
Hemanti Kulkarni, director of DSKDL, is a co-accused in this 2019 case along with her husband, Mr Deepak Sakharam Kulkarni, son Mr Shirish Deepak Kulkarni, Manager Mrs Suvarna Wagh of duping the innocent buyers of Rs. 3,47,73,987 after promising to hand over flats in one of their housing projects at Safed Pul, Sakinaka, Mumbai.
The FIR (CR/FIR No. 150/2019) was registered in August 2019, at Shivaji Park Police Station, Mumbai, against a complaint filed by Mrs Gayatri Unmesh Lohite, a homebuyer, against the directors of the construction company DSK in 2019, was over deliberate excessive delay in possession of a flat in the ‘DSK Madhukosh’ residential project.
According to the alleged Prosecution story, the complainant, namely Mrs Gayatri Unmesh Lohite, saw an advertisement in the Loksatta newspaper dated 13/10/2016 about the launching of a construction project in the name and style of ‘DSK Madhukosh’ by D. S. Kulkarni Developers Limited (DSKDL) at Safed Pul, Sakinaka, Mumbai. After reading the said advertisement, it is alleged that the complainant paid a visit to the said construction site. She was further shown the site by the Sales Manager, namely Mr Raju Bidra. As the rates were reasonable and the complainant cherished the project of DSKDL owing to which she approached the DSKDL office at Dadar on the same day and booked a flat admeasuring 670 sq. ft., amounting to more than a crore.
Subsequently, the complainant handed over the booking amount with a cheque payment. After that, she handed over two cheques amounting to Rs. 25 lakhs and Rs. 7.23lakhs on October and November 2016, respectively, to the Company. The Registration agreement was completed in Dec 2016, where the aforementioned agreement date of possession was mentioned as 31st March 2018. The homebuyer, Mrs Gayatri, applied and got sanctioned for a 95-lakh loan from the State Bank of India. After that, State Bank transferred the first instalment (about Rs 36lakhs) on DSKDL at Axis Bank, Nariman Point, Mumbai, on-demand.
As per the FIR, it is alleged that DSKDL assured the complainant in the agreement to sale that they shall hand over the possession of the flat in March 2018 but failed to do. The charge sheet submitted by the investigation officer mentions that.
- The owner of the DSKDL accepted Rs. 69,85,225/- from complainant and Rs. 1,01,33,073/- from witness Mr Rajesh Kulkarni (total amounting Rs. 1,71,18,298) and didn’t hand over the possession flat to them.
- The charge sheet also remarks that the sales team made the compliant draw the cheques in the name of D.S.Kulkarni & Company, despite the fact that the advertisement was in the name of D.S.Kulkarni Developers Limited.
- There was a difference between the title search report, which DSKDL submitted at the time of agreement and the title search report given by the advocate on the panel of SBI while sanctioning the loan to the complainant and self-produce 7/12 extract.
The co-accused Mrs Hemanti Deepak Kulkarni, through advocate Aashutosh Srivastava, had sought bail citing her advanced age, health conditions and that she got bail in the main FIR by Bombay High Court. The plea stated that the applicant is working on a plan to facilitate work on all the incomplete schemes within a short period. It is assumed that the court had granted relief on the aforesaid grounds. A detailed order copy will be made available in due course.
