An NRI couple from the United States have alleged that the manager of their charity trust in Mumbai forged their signatures to appoint himself and another person as members of a family-run charity trust that owns two buildings and commercial property in south Mumbai worth several crore rupees. On Saturday, the Pydhonie police station registered an FIR against the accused, charging them for cheating, forgery, and common intent.
The Yusuf Ebrahim Gardee Charity Trust, Kalbadevi, owns prime buildings like Africa House, Mohammed Ali Road, Gadree House, Bhindi Bazar, and other commercial properties on Abdul Rehman Street and Janjikar Street. The complainant, Yoosoof Ebrahim Gardee is a resident of Florida and one of members of the Yusuf Ebrahim Gardee Charity Trust.
Trust was founded by the complainant's grandfather in 1929 to give financial support to the poor and needy people out of the income from its properties. The trust was registered with the office of Charity Commissioner and later transferred to Wakf Broad.
Gardee said he had appointed one Imtiaz Patni as the manager of the trust in 2018 and had given him the power of attorney to represent the trust. "At no point of time I had an intention of appointing him as the trustee nor I have given any authority to appoint himself as trustee," Gardee said in his complaint.
After the death of his father, Gardee asked Patni to file a change report – a document recording change of trustees - to add him, his wife, and two sons as trustees. It is alleged that after the change report was attested by the Notary Public in 2019, Patni did not file the papers with the Waqf Board on the pretext that they had missed a deadline and promised Gardee to file it on the next date. Meanwhile, Gardee returned to the USA, entrusting the work to Patni.
According to the Pydhonie police station, Gardee was unable to return to India between 2019 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “However, upon his return to India on 14th March 2023, he obtained the documents of "The Yusuf Ibrahim Gardee Trust" from the office of the Waqf Board, Maharashtra State, Aurangabad. When he reviewed thee documents, he noticed the names of Mohammad Hanif Mohammad Ali Nalkhande and Imtiaz Patni along with Gardee family members as members of the trust. When the complainant inquired about this matter with Patni, he was told that Nalkhande had included these names.
Upon further verification, the complainant observed that the handwriting and signature in the documents were not his. Gardee has alleged that, in a conspiracy, Nalkhande and Patni removed the original amendment application of the trust and submitted a new amendment application in complainant's name to the Waqf Board including their names and forged complainant signature, thereby deceiving him.
Gardee sent a notice in January 2022 to the Maharashtra State Board of Waqf for deleting the names of Patni and Nalkhande as these were added by false representation, fabrication of the documents, and submitting forged documents with a quasi-judicial body (Waqf Trust).
The Pydhonie police station has registered offences under sections 408, 420, 465, 43 and other sections of the Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, and common intent.