Surat: The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) police in Surat have booked four Gajera brothers — Vasant Gajera, Chuni Gajera, Ashok Gajera, Bakul Gajera — and five others in a Rs 1,928.39 crore cheating and forgery case linked to prominent textile market projects in the city.The complaint was filed by Pravin Agrawal (51), a partner in Shanti Residency Pvt Ltd, a real estate firm. Agrawal alleged that the Gajera brothers and their associates conspired to siphon off Rs 1,928.39 crore from the firm and subsequently removed him and his family members from the partnership by forging multiple documents, including his digital signature.An FIR was registered on orders of the Gujarat high court. Agarwal had approached HC seeking directions to the police to lodge complaint against Gajera brothers. According to Agrawal, despite submitting applications to the Surat police in 2022 and 2023, no FIR was filed. Following the high court’s intervention, the case was registered and the probe has been handed over to the Surat police’s economic cell.The case pertains to the Millenium-2 and Millenium-4 textile market projects located on Ring Road, where Agrawal and the accused were partners. Agrawal and his family members collectively held a 43% stake in Shanti Residency Pvt Ltd.According to the FIR, Agrawal had helped the Gajera brothers market and sell shops when they launched the original Millenium market project in 2007. The company, Shanti Residency Pvt Ltd, was formed for the project.In Dec 2009, Agrawal was inducted as a partner and allotted 75,000 shares, while his wife Shital and father Devkinandan were allotted 70,000 shares each, out of a total of five lakh shares, giving the family a 43% stake in the company. The firm later launched two major textile market projects — Millenium-2 comprising 637 shops and Millenium-4 comprising 2,334 shops — and purchased land for the developments.Agrawal alleged that before the Covid-19 lockdown, he discovered that Vasant and his family members had started renting and selling shops without his knowledge. He further alleged that up to 93% of the sale consideration was collected in cash and not deposited in the firm’s accounts.The FIR states that 413 shops in Millenium-2 and 185 shops in Millenium-4 were sold by the accused. In these transactions, only 7% to 16% of the sale value was shown through cheques as per official sale documents, while the remaining amount was allegedly taken in cash. Of the total sale value of Rs 2,085.98 crore, only Rs 157.58 crore was reflected as cheque payments, while Rs 1,928.39 crore was allegedly collected in cash.Agrawal further alleged that the siphoned cash was used to purchase land and launch another project, Millenium-3, and that funds were diverted to various diamond firms owned by the accused, including Laxmi Diamond.When he objected to the alleged cheating and forgery, Agrawal claimed that Vasant, his brothers and their associates threatened to implicate him in false cases and kill him.Agrawal’s share reduced to 4.2%According to the complaint, the accused also forged documents and submitted them to various agencies, including the Registrar of Companies (ROC), to dilute Agrawal’s stake in the company. The company’s registration was allegedly shifted to Maharashtra, and between 2010 and 2016, the share capital was increased six times, reducing Agrawal and his family’s stake from 43% to 4.2%. Agrawal has also alleged that company funds were transferred to Hong Kong through hawala channels to a relative of the accused and later routed back into Shanti Residency Pvt Ltd, further diluting his shareholding.
