A shocking property fraud has come to light in Mumbai’s Borivali area, where a woman allegedly declared her husband dead on paper and sold a flat jointly owned by them for around Rs 1.11 crore using a fake death certificate. Mumbai Police have arrested the woman in connection with the case.
The accused has been identified as 49-year-old Shalini Diana Crasta, while her husband is Ryan Crasta. The couple got married in 2007. In 2016, they purchased a one-bedroom flat at Raj Villa Cooperative Housing Society on LM Road in Borivali. The property was registered in both their names, and they had taken a loan of around Rs 56 lakh for the purchase.
The couple later began living separately, but the flat remained jointly owned. According to Ryan, he continued paying the loan EMIs for the property.
According to police, Shalini allegedly prepared a fake death certificate in her husband’s name. A fake no-objection certificate (NOC) from the housing society and an affidavit claiming Shalini was Ryan’s sole legal heir were also allegedly prepared.
Based on these documents, the flat was allegedly sold on April 11, 2025, to Dharmesh Jagdish Tanna and Dhara Dharmesh Tanna. The new buyers later mortgaged the property and secured a bank loan of around Rs 1.11 crore.
The fraud came to light in May 2026 when Ryan’s friend Prasad Patade told him that his flat had been mortgaged in someone else’s name. Ryan and his mother then contacted the bank, where they learned about the transaction.
When Ryan showed the alleged NOC to housing society officials, they denied issuing the document and said the signatures on it were forged. Ryan subsequently filed a police complaint.
After investigating the case, police arrested Shalini Crasta on September 9. She was produced before the Borivali magistrate’s court and sent to police custody.
Police are now investigating who helped Shalini prepare the fake death certificate and housing society NOC. They are also probing how the Rs 1.11 crore received from the property transaction was used.
The most striking aspect of the case is that Ryan was alive, yet he was allegedly shown as dead in government and property records before the jointly owned flat was sold.
