MUMBAI: The sessions court has refused anticipatory bail to Poonam Ashit Doshi, director of Zeus Housing & Construction Ltd, in connection with an alleged cheating and misappropriation case linked to the Zeus Residency project in Sion Koliwada, where homebuyers claim to have lost crores of rupees.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police, which is investigating the case, has accused Doshi and her husband, Ashit Doshi, also a director of the company, of diverting over ₹77 crore collected from homebuyers in the sale component of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project.
The prosecution had contended that despite selling nearly 100 flats and collecting over ₹1,000 crore, the Doshis failed to complete the construction and instead routed buyers’ funds to other companies and personal accounts.
In a detailed order pronounced on Monday, made available on Tuesday, additional sessions judge NG Shukla stated that Poonam Doshi had played an active and direct role in the transactions. “Copies of agreements placed by the informant on record show that the applicant is [an] active director of the company and she has signed various agreements for [the] sale of the flats as [the] authorized signatory and promoter,” the court noted.
The order recorded that Doshi had personally signed 17 sale agreements and two allotment letters, and that the couple had even sold certain flats twice to different purchasers. The judge remarked that funds received from homebuyers were diverted to Pradeep Trading Company and other firms, and also used for personal expenses, amounting to misappropriation.
Rejecting the defence’s claim that Doshi was a nominal or non-executive director, the court said the material on record showed she had been part of the company’s core operations from the start of the project. “The applicant is not a mere non-executive director but [an] active director of the company,” the judge said.
The court also stated that Doshi had not cooperated with the investigation, despite being issued a notice to appear, and observed that her conduct did not entitle her to protection from arrest.
It further took note of Doshi’s failure to disclose her involvement in another criminal case registered at the Antop Hill police station in 2023, which also pertains to the Zeus Residency project. Filed by investor Mehul Shah, the case names Poonam and Ashit Doshi among the accused for allegedly cheating investors in the redevelopment scheme.
Although the Antop Hill FIR and the present EOW case involved different complainants and separate transactions—the former by an investor and the latter by flat purchasers alleging double sales and diversion of funds—Doshi’s failure to disclose the earlier case in her bail plea amounted to concealment, the court said. The judge termed it “one sort of suppression of facts relating to criminal antecedents,” adding that such omission reflected poorly on her conduct before the court.
The court concluded that, given the scale of the alleged fraud and the evidence of direct involvement, custodial interrogation could not be ruled out. “Mere non-requirement of custodial interrogation is not [the] sole ground to grant anticipatory bail,” the court held, adding that the nature and gravity of the offence weighed heavily against granting her relief.
The case stemmed from complaints by multiple homebuyers, who alleged that even a decade after booking their flats, construction had not been completed and possession had not been handed over. Earlier, in August 2024, the same court had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Ashit Doshi, who has since approached the Bombay High Court for relief.