Kamla Mills Owner Arrested for Alleged Rs 67.50 Crore Fraud

Confirming the development to the The Indian Express, senior EOW officers said that Gowani, a Worli resident, will be produced in court Wednesday.

In a significant development, the Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested Ramesh Gowani, the owner of the renowned Kamla Mills compound in Lower Parel, along with builder Ramesh Gowani, 60, on charges of defrauding a businessman from Khar of Rs 67.50 crore.

The arrest, confirmed by senior EOW officers to The Indian Express, comes after allegations of fraud spanning from September 2013 to February 2024.

According to the police complaint, Gowani, a resident of Worli and owner of Amikrupa Land Developers, purchased a 2,204 sq m plot in Santacruz (West) from the complainant, Surjeet Singh Arora, in 2013. The transaction allegedly involved promises of Rs 20 crore in cash, ten flats, and a shop as compensation for the land. These flats were to be part of a residential tower constructed by Gowani’s firm on the plot.

However, the complainant alleged that Gowani’s company only provided three out of the promised ten flats and sold the remaining seven to third parties without his consent, leading to a loss amounting to Rs 67.50 crore.

Following Arora’s complaint, the EOW conducted a preliminary inquiry and subsequently registered a case against Gowani under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, banker, merchant, or agent) of the Indian Penal Code.

As the investigation progresses, the EOW anticipates further arrests of additional suspects implicated in the case.

This isn’t Gowani’s first brush with legal troubles. Previously, in January 2018, he was arrested in connection with the Kamla Mills compound fire incident, which claimed the lives of 14 people, on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.