The Bhandup police have booked five persons in three separate FIRs registered for allegedly cheating families of Rs 21.58 lakh on the pretext of selling flats. Police said that the accused used middlemen, misleading documents, and claims of connections with BMC and Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) officials to gain the confidence of the victims.

Victim number 1

In the first case, a 33-year-old Prabhadevi resident alleged that Sunil Trimbak Nikalje, 59, a Powai-based estate agent, duped him of R3.58 lakh between October 2024 and February 2025 by promising a room at Utkarsh Nagar under an SRA project. Nikalje allegedly claimed to have links with BMC and SRA officials and showed the complainant what later turned out to be a fake receipt.