South Mumbai’s Pratibha, city’s first tower of graft, to be rebuilt – Times of India

MUMBAI: Almost 40 years after one of the biggest building violation scams rocked Mumbai and three years after the skeleton of the illegal skyscraper was demolished, Pratibha, located off Breach Candy in south Mumbai, will be rebuilt. Apartments in the area command a price of around Rs 1 lakh a sq ft.

The 36-floor tower, which gained notoriety in the 1980s, was derisively labelled as Mumbai’s original tower of corruption. TOI has learnt that the 35 society members (including singer Asha Bhosle) who had booked flats in the building four decades ago are currently negotiating with a builder (KBK Developers). The plan, it is learnt, is to build a new tower on the almost two-acre plot, which is situated in Sophia College lane.
The original flat buyers, who never got to stay in the building, have been offered 3,300 sq ft flats each, although they are negotiating for a larger area. Jayant Vora, the society’s secretary, refused to comment, only stating that things were at a “preliminary stage”.
Although builder Rajendra Kothari of KBK Developers was tight-lipped and denied he was involved in the deal, some flat buyers claimed the society was in talks with this developer. On Wednesday, a public notice was issued by the law firm MT Miskita & Co on behalf of its unnamed client, investigating the title of Saidale Cooperative Society (formerly known as Pratibha Cooperative Housing Society). Property market sources said the society will sign a joint development agreement with the developer.
The Pratibha scam first hit the headlines in 1984 when the then Mumbai collector Arun Bhatia conducted an audit of building sanctions. It was found that the original builder had falsely declared the plot’s area as over 9,282 sq m as against the actual, 7,197 sq m. The false declaration helped the builder gain additional floor space of 27,000 sq ft. The top eight floors of the 36-storey tower were declared illegal and demolished by the BMC in the mid-1990s. In 2019, the remaining 28 floors of the building were pulled down.
Each floor contained two sprawling flats. Among the original buyers were high net worth individuals, NRIs, and private firms, besides playback singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle.
Some years ago, Bhatia, now retired, told TOI that he was transferred soon after he exposed the scandal. “There were many officers involved, but I don’t know if anyone was ever punished,” he said.
In 2012, the society had invited bids, with a reserve price of Rs 900 crore, for the entire property. It was rumoured that Breach Candy Hospital was interested to expand its premises. But as it turned out, there were no takers at that price.