A homebuyer who had invested in a housing project in Bengaluru has approached the city police after the Bengaluru-based real estate developer Ozone Group allegedly resold his apartment to a new buyer.
Buyer Bipul Bhattacharya approached Devanahalli Police Station to register an FIR against the developer after he found that his apartment in the Urbana Avenue project, located in north Bengaluru’s Devanahalli, was resold in June 2023.
According to both sale documents accessed by HT.com, apartment number 503, with a carpet area of 1093 sq ft, on the fifth floor of tower Q, was resold to a new buyer.
Officials at Devanahalli Police Station confirmed to HT.com that a preliminary investigation is ongoing, and the FIR will be lodged in 3-4 days.
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“I had booked the apartment in 2017 with a possession date of 2019. The apartment cost was โน87 lakh. However, the apartment remains incomplete to this day. I was shocked that it was resold to a new buyer,” Bhattacharya said.
“We have approached several forums for relief, including the NCLT and Karnataka High Court. In November 2021, the High Court intervened and ordered to stop the pre-EMI against my name, bringing a major relief,” he said.
A list of questions has been sent to the developer, and the story will be updated after a response is received.
This follows another FIR filed against the developer in October last year for reselling an apartment in the same project.
Delayed project
Located at a 16-minute drive from the Bengaluru Airport, Ozone Urbana township is spread across 185 acres. While the construction began in 2014, the project remains stalled, with multiple complaints pending at Karnataka RERA. Ozone Urbana Avenue has over 800 apartments.
In the first week of February 2024, the Karnataka High Court gave the state government four months to recover homebuyers’ money from the delayed project. According to a KRERA document, the Ozone group owes homebuyers a whopping โน93.6 crore in refunds.
Read More: Bengaluru buyers association files FIR against real estate developer for fraud worth โน3300 crore
Previous FIRs filed
In December, the Bengaluru Crime Branch registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the Ozone Group promoters following a complaint filed by the Resident Welfare Association (RWA) of Ozone Urbana Township for defrauding buyers of over โน3300 crore, HT.com reported.
The FIR mentions that the company collected over โน1500 crore through mortgage loans in the buyersโ name through various banks and directly collected โน1800 crore from the buyers, totalling โน3300 crore.
In October last year, another buyer, Shashikanta Gupta, filed an FIR against the developer for the resale of his apartment in the same project. According to the FIR, the apartment was supposed to be handed over in 2022 but was resold in November 2021 to a new buyer.
“More than 90 days have passed since filing the FIR, and the update till now is that the investigation is ongoing,” Gupta said.
