10 flat owners, agents fined 5k each in Powai

Mumbai: The Powai police fined five flat owners and their agents Rs 5,000 each for renting out flats without submitting details of lessees on Sunday. This came after a surprise check on around 60 flats in a Mhada building at Milind Nagar, Powai. The flats were given on 11-month leases. 

    The action followed police commissioner Satya Pal Singh's order of December 30, 2012, stating that action must be initiated against flat owners and agents who failed to inform the local police, irrespective of the lease period. 
    The police received a tipoff about suspicious people occupying some of the flats. "We found five owners and 
five agents violated the law. They did not submit details of the occupants, their antecedents and didn't have police approval while renting out the houses. We had information that rooms were rented out to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh," senior inspector Bajirao Bhosle said. 
    Bhosle said the action should serve as a warning to others who rent out properties without informing the cops. "The police order said owners of shops, establishments and apartments should provide detailed information about the tenants. If anyone is found violating the order, they will be fined and let off with a warning. Repeat offenders will be told to sign a bond, and if they continue violating the law they will be arrested," Bhosle said. 
    A police officer said they would extend the drive to other areas. "We have information about suspicious people occupying flats without following the procedure in some areas. We cannot take chances as Mumbai is the financial capital and the city has witnessed several terror attacks,'' a senior officer said. The police said they had even warned agents and owners of commercial buildings. 
    Some real estate agents told TOI that they do not verify antecedents of lessees. "We have an arrangement with the local police,'' a real estate agent said on Monday. 
    A suspect in the July 13, 2011, bomb blasts case had stayed in a rented house in Byculla with a fake identity. 
    The flat where suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) commander Yasin Bhatkal stayed in 2010, with two Pakistani nationals, was registered under a false name.