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Two held for duping Delhi businessman of ₹4.85 crore over farmhouse sale
Two men have been arrested for allegedly duping a businessman of INR4.85 crore ($663,000) in a farmhouse sale in south Delhi. The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police arrested the suspects who duped the businessman twice within a month in 2018. The two were involved in seven criminal cases across Delhi, including six of cheating and forgery.
Two people were arrested from different locations in Gurugram on Sunday in connection with a case wherein they allegedly duped a businessman to the tune of ₹4.85 crore in the name of selling two farmhouses in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur, the Delhi Police said on Monday.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police arrested the suspects who duped the businessman twice within a month in 2018, police said, adding that the two were involved in seven criminal cases across Delhi, including six of cheating and forgery.
A case of impersonation, cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy was registered with the EOW police station in 2020 following a complaint by the victim and non-bailable warrants (NBW) were issued by a Delhi court last year against the suspects – Gunveen Singh, 45, and his brother-in-law Jitin Pal Singh, 40, a law graduate from a private university in Noida, said deputy commissioner of police (EOW) Vikram Porwal.
DCP Porwal said that the complainant Yogesh Tyagi, 46, a resident of south Delhi’s Chhatarpur Extension, alleged in his complaint that Gunveen had claimed that he was the holder of the agreement for sale of a farmhouse in Chhatarpur on behalf of its owner Ravindra Kumar Ahuja. He had also claimed that the property was free from all encumbrances for sale. Subsequently, the deal was finalised for ₹40 crore and an agreement was executed between them in August 2018.
Tyagi paid ₹2.8 crore to Gunveen and Jitin as token amount for the deal through various banking transactions. However, Tyagi soon learnt that the property was disputed and that a civil suit was pending against it. He contacted the duo and demanded his money back. Instead of returning his money, Gunveen and Jitin told Tyagi that they were the holders of agreement for sale of another key property in Chhatarpur and the advance amount of ₹2.8 crore will be adjusted in the sale amount of that property — if he agreed to buy it. The original owners of the property, brother Ajay and Ram Sahni, also met Tyagi during the deal, said DCP Porwal.
The complainant was then tricked into paying ₹2.05 crore as advance payment for the second property in September 2018. While receiving the payments, Ajay and Ram had assured that they were in the process of getting the property mutated in their favour as the property was in the name of their deceased father. They also assured him that they would execute the sale deed shortly.
However, the Sahni brothers issued a public notice in a newspaper in September 2019, wherein it was mentioned that they did not enter into any agreement for sale with respect to the property with anyone, the DCP said. It emerged that Gunveen was not authorised to execute the agreement for sale, while he claimed otherwise, the DCP added.
“During the investigation, the allegations were proven correct, and we collected evidence against the two suspects. The two were absconding since November last year. Accordingly, NBWs were issued against them. On Sunday, our team learnt about their hideouts in Gurugram and arrested Gunveen and Jitin from two different housing societies,” DCP Porwal said, adding that the police are interrogating them to ascertain the role of Sahni brothers as well.