Panchkula lawyer dupes NRI on pretext of fake realty project, booked

After the NRI invested money, the lawyer kept assuring him that the real estate project was progressing, but stopped sharing information about the progress thereafter and stopped taking his calls

Police have booked a Panchkula-based lawyer for duping a non-resident Indian (NRI) after luring him into investing in a real estate project in Shimla.

After preliminary inquiry, Chandigarh Police registered a case at the Sector-11 police station. (iStock)

In his complaint, GS Sanghera, an NRI staying in the UK, said the accused, Pankaj Bhardwaj of Sector 6, Panchkula, in 2011 operated his law office from a house in Sector 11, Chandigarh, and was at the time luring people to invest in a non-existent real estate project.

The complainant said the accused, posing as an investment advisor-cum-investment portfolio handling consultant, lured him to invest in the real estate project in Shimla and even gave him a hand-out listing details of the project.

The accused had then allegedly offered to act as agent for the complainant, who then invested money in the project. For the next four years, the accused kept assuring the complainant that the real estate project was progressing, but stopped sharing information about the progress thereafter and stopped taking his calls.

The complainant took information from revenue authorities in Shimla on the touted project and came to know that it never existed. He then filed a complaint. After preliminary inquiry, a case was registered at the Sector-11 police station.