Mumbai Police arrest builder Abhishek Vyas in Santacruz over Rs 25 crore housing fraud

The Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested builder Abhishek Vyas from a five-star hotel in Santacruz on Friday after he spent eight years on the run in connection with an alleged Rs 25-crore housing fraud case. Vyas, the owner of A & A Shelters, allegedly duped around 40 flat buyers in housing projects located in Kandivali and Amboli.

Following his arrest, Vyas was produced before a court, which remanded him to judicial custody.

According to police investigators, Vyas ran a company called A & A Shelters and launched a housing project in Kandivali in 2010. At the time of the launch, he allegedly promised the buyers that they would get possession of their new houses within three years.

However, even after making regular payments for nearly six years, the buyers did not receive their flats. The victims eventually approached the Amboli police, leading to the registration of six separate FIRs against the builder. The EOW later took over the case and estimated that about 40 buyers were defrauded of nearly Rs 25 crore in total.

In addition to the stalled Kandivali project, police officials revealed that Vyas had also undertaken the redevelopment of several housing societies in Amboli. However, he allegedly failed to hand over the redeveloped homes to the members or pay them the agreed-upon rent.

Vyas was initially arrested but secured bail in 2018 after chargesheets were filed against him in court. He subsequently stopped attending the court hearings, leading to the issuance of a non-bailable warrant. Vyas had been absconding since 2018.

EOW Deputy Commissioner of Police Sangramsinh Nishandar confirmed the arrest, stating that the accused was successfully traced after eight years through a combination of intelligence inputs and technical surveillance.