Ranga Reddy: How Countryside Realtors in Mokila cheated over 70 Westend Greens villa owners

Hyderabad: Vijay Kumar (name changed) could not sleep properly since he shifted to a villa in Mokila’s Westend Greens in Ranga Reddy district.

Once he tried to settle down, he found that he was in fact cheated by Countryside Realtors India Private Limited.

According to Vijay, he faced a major financial loss and suffered emotional distress due to alleged cheating, fraud, extortion, and criminal intimidation by the real estate firm.

He also alleged that the developers had resorted to retaliatory actions, including disconnection of electricity and the use of security personnel to block access to villa owners.

Westend Greens has 117 villas constructed by Countryside Realtors. The company is represented by directors KN Simha and Mohammed Masood Ul Hasan and manager Saurabh Pandey.

After being vexed with the attitude of the Countryside directors and its manager, Vijay along with the other villa owners filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Cyberabad recently.

Brief facts of the case

Speaking to NewsMeter, Vijay said that he purchased a villa in Westend Greens in 2021 after going through grandiose representation by way of misleading brochures and websites.

“Over the years, I have been facing a tough time due to a lack of basic amenities like potable water, sewage treatment plant, and stormwater drainage as required by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). Women and children were facing severe hardships due to lack of security guards,” he said.

The company had sold the villa falsely representing that the Westend Greens project is a villa-gated community with valid approval from Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).

“It has come to the attention of the villa owners that the purported approval from the HMDA for Westend Greens was, in reality, only a draft approval-not the final approval as misrepresented on the developer's website. This draft approval lapsed on November 3, 2017, over seven years ago and there are no efforts from the Company to get the final approval from the HMDA,” he said.

Elaborating further, Vijay said that the developer had sent a demand letter with false pictures of clubhouse development, to the owners. The clubhouse or its foundation does not exist to date. Apart from that, the developer has repeatedly coerced residents into surrendering blank cheques and instructed residents to deposit maintenance payments into accounts belonging to unknown entities.

“These actions demonstrate a clear intent to misappropriation and funds diversion to evade tax. The developer's registered address at the time of sale was Amar Housing Society, Kavuri Hills. Now it is operating from the premises of incomplete Westend Greens layout itself without any official intimation,” Vijay said.

The villa owner also alleged that the developer had committed a flagrant breach of statutory regulations by failing to provide any amenities in Westend Greens, contrary to the mandatory requirements as per the HMDA. They include the supply of potable drinking water through Mission Bhagiratha, the establishment of a sewage treatment plant for a layout exceeding 10 acres, and a stormwater drainage system. In the past 12 years, only 20 property owners have been granted possession out of a total of 117 villas.

“Despite formally protesting and repeatedly demanding the essential Occupancy Certificate, I have been left without it despite the passage of 12 years. As per GO 168, an Occupancy Certificate (OC) is a mandatory condition for lawful possession, underscoring the developer's ongoing breach of regulatory obligation. Apart from that, the builder has been unlawfully imposing monthly maintenance charges of Rs 8,800 including GST per villa despite the OC,” Vijay said and added that the maintenance is not collected into a separate account and no expense details are provided.

Citing a verdict pronounced by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), the villa owner maintained that a builder cannot charge monthly maintenance without first obtaining an Occupancy Certificate. Owners who have refused to comply with these unauthorized demands or have sought explanations-especially given reports of children under 10 years being deployed to man security gates.

On the other hand, there are several legal cases against the builder in which the court has adjudicated in favor of the plaintiffs, thereby establishing prima facie evidence that Countryside Realtors engages in fraudulent and illegal practices, he said.

Another major issue haunting the owners and residents was the abnormal delay in project completion. For the last 12 years, the project was not even completed 30 percent.

EOW Cyberabad Police acknowledged the complaint filed by Vijay along with other owners and residents of Westend Greens. A case was registered Sec: 316(2),318(4), 351(2) r/w 3(5) of BNS Act and investigation is on.