Mumbai: Bombay high court has restrained Mumbai police’s economic offences wing from proceeding further with its investigation into an alleged Rs 68-crore fraud case involving the family-run Rizvi Estates and Hotels Pvt Ltd based on a complaint filed by builder Akhtar Hasan Rizvi against his former wife Meena (81), daughter Reshma and several associates.Meena had sought quashing of the FIR. A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad noted her advanced age and the existence of ongoing civil litigation between her daughter-in-law and the second respondent, Rizvi, as grounds for granting interim relief. It observed that continuation of the investigation in such circumstances was unwarranted until the dispute was further examined. Rizvi (83) had alleged that Meena and Reshma had forged documents and fraudulently transferred over 5,000 of his shares in their names through unregistered gift deeds bearing his forged signature between 2010 and 2017, and that four associates had aided the conspiracy by misusing his digital signature, falsifying income tax filings and making fake entries in the company’s records. Senior advocate Subodh Desai, assisted by Dinesh Pednekar, C Keswani and Tanmay Bhave, appeared for Meena. Desai said that his elderly client had been wrongfully implicated in a family dispute being pursued through criminal proceedings. Assistant public prosecutor K V Saste appeared for the state. Advocate Mahesh Mishra, along with Roy Varghese, appeared for Rizvi and said he would seek instructions regarding an amicable settlement. HC directed the matter to be listed for further hearing on Nov 18. Assistant police inspector Suvarna Umap-Dongare, the investigating officer, was present during the proceedings.
