PUNE: A builder and his wife have been booked by Pune rural police for not giving possession of a flat to a man who had booked it but selling it to another person at a higher price.

Umesh Agarwal (38) of Dehuroad has registered the FIR against Balasaheb Dattatray Gaware of M/s Parth Associates and his wife Anitha. The case was lodged on Saturday with Dehuroad police station.

According to police, Agarwal had booked a flat in Gaware’s Krishna Heritage residential project at Kiwale in October last year. He had paid Rs 5 lakh and entered into an agreement with the builder who had promised to give possession within six months. However, the builder sold the flat to another person at a higher price. Whenever Agarwal asked him about the flat the builder used to evade him. When Agarwal asked him to refund his money, the builder had issued a cheque which bounced.

In February this year, Agarwal gave a written complaint to the police but no case was filed against the builder. Finally, after much follow up, the FIR was registered on Saturday for offences under relevant sections of the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act (MOFA) and sections 420 (cheating) and 405 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Agarwal had approached RTI activist Sreejit Rameshan who filed several RTI applications in the case.