Urgent Legal advice on case of being cheated in land and JV deal
I am a 53 year old and I had entered into a partnership with 2 other men, to form a company 7 years back (end of 2013), using all my savings along with some loan. We then entered into a real estate JV with a land-owner, introduced by one of the partners and the JV was registered.
The company paid him 50 lacs advance as part of the deal. The JV did not get completed because the land owner failed to handover the land in the agreed upon condition (Sali to Vaastu conversion was not done). Hence, we took steps to terminate the JV according to JV agreement clauses.
The land owner kept promising that the money would be returned, as per JV agreement (which had a clause for cancellation/termination under specific conditions). After that, arbitration began and again, he agreed to return the money, the record of which is in the arbitration documents. I along with the other partners kept waiting.
However, I soon realised and started doubting that the other partners might also be involved with the land owner. The land-owner along with another partner now refuses to communicate or co-operate.
My money — given for company + land JV— is stuck with them since the last 7 years and I am now struggling to make ends meet and trying to recover my hard earned savings.
Unfortunately, due to the accrued interest and other financial uncertainties, I am currently not in a position to pay any legal fees/charges.
I'll be extremely grateful if I could receive any guidance on how to approach the case. Also, if you know of any lawyer or firm which takes up pro bono/commission based cases of such nature, please let me know. It will be of a lot of help to me.