36 investors allege 32nd Avenue investment fraud; ED alerted in EOW probe

Police say complaints involve same unit sold to multiple buyers and halted rent payouts. No assets frozen yet; ED alerted to examine possible money laundering.

Gurugram police’s economic offences wing has recorded statements of at least 36 investors who filed complaints alleging they were duped by Dhurv Dutt Sharma, chief executive of the firm behind the 32nd Avenue commercial real estate project, officials said on Saturday.

FIRs cite ₹2.5 crore deal and investors promised lease-backed returns. Payments allegedly stopped after initial months; police tracing fund flow via bank records. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

Investigators said investors submitted agreements, deeds and bank statements to support claims that they were promised assured monthly rental income which stopped after one to two years of payments.

The complaints relate to investments in the 32nd Avenue project on the Delhi–Jaipur road in Sector 15 Part II. Police said hundreds of investors were allegedly assured that their units would be leased out to commercial firms and would generate regular monthly returns. Investigators are now examining the financial trail and have not reported any freezing or recovery of assets so far.

Vishal Kumar, assistant commissioner of police (EOW), said the new complaints are being clubbed with five existing FIRs as they are of a similar nature. “We are gathering evidence against Sharma and his firm promoters in the four more FIRs along with the one related to ₹2.5 crore fraud in which he was arrested on Friday. On the basis of the evidence, we will arrest him in other cases too,” he said.

Kumar said investigators are examining bank accounts of Sharma’s firms to trace the flow of investors’ money, including ₹2.5 crore allegedly taken from a private firm in September 2021. A private venture had entered into an agreement to purchase a 3,000 square feet first-floor unit at 32nd Avenue. An FIR registered at Civil Lines police station on January 2 alleged that Sharma transferred ownership of the same unit to 25 other investors and later got it leased in his firm’s name, he added.

Police said most complainants alleged that Sharma and his firm promoters induced them to invest by promising monthly rental income and long-term leasing arrangements. Investigators said payments were initially deposited into investors’ bank accounts as rent but later stopped.

The first FIR was registered on December 20 on the complaint of Greater Kailash 1 resident. He alleged his son bought a 271.45 square feet shop in 32nd Galleries for ₹28 lakh in December 2021 and received rent at ₹500 per square feet from Sharma’s firm from June 2022 to June 2025 before payments stopped. He also alleged that physical possession was never given and the shop’s actual area was only 100.45 square feet instead of what was stated in the conveyance deed.

A second FIR was registered the same day on the complaint of a Lucknow resident, who alleged he and his wife purchased an 80 square feet shop for ₹64 lakh in September 2023 after being promised high rental income through a 30-year lease arrangement. He later found there was no long-term lease and rent payments stopped last year.

A third FIR registered on January 1 was based on a complaint by owner of a Delhi-based consultancy firm, who alleged that his firm and three others paid for six commercial units in June 2010 with promises of assured returns that never materialised.

The fifth FIR, registered January 5 on the complaint of a Gurugram, Sector 81 resident who alleged that ₹45 lakh was paid in November 2024 for a 50 square feet unit with an assurance of rental income, but the conveyance deed was never executed and the money was not returned even after he got the allotment cancelled in July 2025.

Sharma was arrested from his residence at DLF Camellias in Sector 42 on Friday and produced before a city court, which granted the economic offences wing six days of police remand for interrogation.

Police said Sharma owns 32nd Vistas Private Limited, Growth Hospitality LLP and several other firms in which his close family members are listed as promoters. They too have been named as accused in all five FIRs registered so far in connection with the alleged fraud, which investigators estimate runs into hundreds of crores. Gurugram police have also sent an intimation to the Enforcement Directorate to examine the case from a money laundering angle.

Despite multiple attempts since Friday, HT did not receive any response from 32nd Avenue regarding the allegations or Sharma’s arrest.