‘NOC for tower next to missile base’

Naval unit INS Trata, a missile base off the Worli seaface, would have had a 19-floor residential tower as its immediate neighbour if a curi...

Naval unit INS Trata, a missile base off the Worli seaface, would have had a 19-floor residential tower as its immediate neighbour if a curious officer hadn’t asked who authorised the construction.

A probe conducted by the Navy revealed that a no-objection certificate (NOC) — issued to JGB Builders — was allegedly forged by a retired Naval Commander. When the Navy complained, the Worli police arrested four suspects, developer Mohan Babani, 47, Commander (retd) Metinder Sethi, 55, TV software producers Gurupalsingh Sacchar, 36, and Vinod Tejwani, 37, early this month on charges of criminal conspiracy and forgery.

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While Sethi — a former IIT Kharagpur student — is in judicial custody, the others were out on bail. The police have moved court to cancel their bail, and construction has been stopped.

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Sethi, senior vice-president with Lovino Kapoor Cotton Private Ltd in Thane district, played a major role in forging the NOC, according to preliminary inquiry. The computer he used to forge the NOC has also been seized. Sethi received Rs 1.40 crore from Babani for the job, according to the FIR.

Investigators suspect a nexus between the builder and officials of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which passed the construction plan without noticing the NOC. Sources said the Navy had rejected Babani’s request for an NOC for the same plot last July. Babani has told the police that he bought the land from Maharani Vijaya of Morvi for Rs 6 crore. He claimed that he had paid Rs 4 crore to a tenant — Bollywood veteran Nimmi — to vacate the Maharani’s bungalow, demolished soon after to facilitate construction.

To get an NOC for construction on the 1,648-sq-metre plot near INS Trata’s main entrance was a tough task since the plot shared a boundary wall with the Defence establishment. Babani then sought his nephew Tejwani’s advice. And Tejwani approached friend Sacchar, who knew Sethi well. Sethi dropped names and allegedly promised to procure an NOC.

Once Sethi got it, Babani produced the NOC at BMC, which sanctioned JGB Builders’ plan this February. When construction material started arriving at the site, petty officer S P Singh asked the supervisors on April 27 who gave them permission.