Property dealer held for frauds amounting to over ₹1 crore

The police on Friday night arrested a 41-year-old property from Sector 40 for allegedly duping over two dozen people of at least ₹1 crore on the pretext of selling them plots and apartments in prime locations

The police on Friday night arrested a 41-year-old property from Sector 40 for allegedly duping over two dozen people of at least ₹1 crore on the pretext of selling them plots and apartments in prime locations.

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The suspect, identified as Naveen Chandela of Paudi Garhwal in Uttarakhand, fled the city last year and moved to Bengaluru in Karnataka but returned to Gurugram for some work, the police said. He was arrested by the crime investigation unit of Sector 40.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said the suspect posed as a developer and used an entourage of 14 others for the frauds, in which he made around ₹1.2 crore. “Chandela showed flats across the city to potential buyers and disappeared after taking the booking amount,” he said.

Sangwan said they recovered two gold chains, three gold biscuits, two gold bangles and a Haryana developer’s licence from his possession. “We have taken him on seven-day police remand and will be questioning him to ascertain if he was involved in more frauds in Bengaluru and other cities,” he said.

Sangwan said they came to know of the frauds after a contractor of the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), who was duped, approached the police. Mithelesh Kumar, who works as an HSVP contractor, told the police that he met Chandela, who identified himself as the managing director of AHI Housing, through a friend in February 2020.

The police said that when Kumar expressed an interest in investing in properties, Chandela showed him a few flats in sectors 48, 49 and 72, following which Kumar made an advance payment of ₹16.8 lakh for three flats in March 2020.

Kumar, in his complaint to the police, said that initially, Chandela kept delaying the process, attributing it to the Covid-19 pandemic. “He started ignoring my calls and later switched off his mobile phone. When I visited his office on Sohna Road, I found it closed,” he said.

The police said that Kumar realised he was duped after learning about similar instances during enquiries at nearby offices. A case was registered under sections 406 (fraud), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 50 police station on March 30. Nearly two dozen people were duped in a similar manner, the police said.

Sangwan said that many fraudsters were found to have a realtor’s licence in the past as well. “There have been multiple cases where suspects applied and availed of the licence to show their authenticity,” he said.