Mumbai: Special Court Acquits Builder In 34-Year-Old Alleged Vile Parle FSI Manipulation Case
· Free Press Journal
Mumbai, July 29, 2026: Nearly 34 years after the registration of the offence, the special court for corruption cases has acquitted builder Chaitnya Vora, 70, who was booked in 1992 for allegedly manipulating land measurement records to obtain a higher Floor Space Index (FSI).
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Case Stemmed From Land Measurement Inquiry
The case was lodged on the basis of an inquiry conducted with respect to CTS No. 1258, 1258/1 to 1258/5 of Vile Parle to ascertain alleged malpractices by way of increasing the area of the plot and thereby obtaining a higher FSI for the construction of a residential building.
It was claimed that, as per the property card maintained by the revenue authority, the land measured a total of 1,179.6 sq. m. It was further claimed that, based on an order dated January 16, 1980, a fresh measurement was carried out by K P Bhalerao, the Maintenance Surveyor (MS), following the conversion of the plot to non-agricultural use. It was claimed that no report was available.
Thereafter, the owner, G K Goradia, made an application on February 16, 1982, seeking a fresh measurement and correction of the area. Along with the application, Goradia attached a copy of the block plan prepared by architect H M Jhaveri, wherein the area of the property was mentioned as 1,247.18 sq. m.
Subsequently, following the application, the area was corrected, and CTSO S R Pradhan approved the area on the note of Bhalerao without any scrutiny, though he was not empowered to do so.
Accordingly, the area in the property card was changed on February 26, 1982, without the sanction of the SLR and without pointing out specific mistakes in the original area. The said property was to be redeveloped by Vora.
Trial Began Decades Later
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had filed a chargesheet against Bhalerao, Vora, and another accused, Laxmidas Vora. Pending the trial, Bhalerao and Laxmidas died. Hence, the proceedings against them stood abated.
The trial against Vora began only in January 2026, and the prosecution could examine only three witnesses.
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After hearing the prosecution's case, the court acquitted Vora, observing, “The prosecution has miserably failed even to prove such a basic fact of increase in area of the particular plot by any officer from the SLR office at the relevant time. Any particular document is not proved on record as the forged document. The prosecution has not adduced any evidence of any document having contents of change of area of the plot and circumstances under which such document came to be created so as to ascertain whether it was a forged document.”
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