MUMBAI: Actor Gautam Rode has steered clear of controversies and is known to be dedicated towards good work in the industry. He has appeared in TV shows including Baa, Bahu Aur Baby, Lucky, Saraswatichandra, and Maha Kumbh: Ek Rahasaya, Ek Kahani. He made his Bollywood debut with Annarth (2002).
However, he recently had to take a strong stand when he was cheated of over 2 crores by a builder. Gautam had booked a flat in May 2016 in Ariisto Sommet, Goregaon, hoping to receive it by Dec 2018 (as per the official confirmation on email), as promised by the builder, Mr. Atithi Narendra Patel.
Revealing the whole story, Gautam says, ‘I paid him a booking amount of 1.5 crores as asked by him and a monthly installment of 5 lakhs was set for every month, which I paid until March 2017. This can be confirmed by my bank statement. I gave him a total amount of 2 crores 11 lakhs 95 thousand including tax to the government in the name of Ashvi Developers, where Atithi Narendra Patel was the main director and owner. Recently, I came to know from one of the websites that he has resigned as a director. The construction of the building stopped in October 2016, but I kept paying the installments until March 2017, hoping for it to start as promised.’
‘During this time, I also kept asking for the allotment letter, without which I couldn’t register the flat. The first time I got anything besides a booking form from Ashvi Developers was a schedule sheet that was sent to me on email after 10 months of having booked the flat, dated 20th March 2017, in which random slab rates were written, which were never discussed and were not part of our deal. This can be testified by Nihar and Siddharth (common brokers: Pan Properties).’
What do you think of Gautam Rode?
‘The first time I got an allotment letter was in April 2017, but it was dated wrongly and there was no mention of the 55 lakhs that I paid to him in installments, and again, the slab rates mentioned on this one were different from the ones sent on email earlier. I have a hard copy of it.’
(Also read: Gautam cheated of Rs 8 crore)
‘In April 2017 itself, after my repeated inquiries as to when the construction of the building would start, when I received no definite answer, I told the builder that I will not pay any more money till the construction of the building starts, to which he called the brokers Nihar and Siddharth and told them that if I didn’t want to pay any further, then they would cancel my booking and refund my money. This message was delivered to me by Nihar and Siddharth, to which I readily agreed, as I had lost faith in the builder. Siddharth has already testified in EOW about the same.’
‘I have saved several text messages and Whatsapp messages that I received from Atithi Narendra Patel and Dhrupad Jhaveri (Sales Head of Ashvi Developers and Atithi’s brother-in-law), in which Atithi has written that I am in his first list of payments and has thanked me for understanding his situation and keeping patience. He has also said that he will close the deal at the earliest. But he never kept his word.’
‘After patiently waiting for more than a year, when I did not get any positive reply about either the construction of the building or on the return of my money, I went to the Economic Offences Wing and lodged an FIR against the builder. The construction of the building has still not started. I’ve suffered a lot, but I have full faith in the judicial system and am positive that I will get justice.’
Gautam, we are with you, and we really hope you get justice!
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