RTI activist, sons arrested for duping banks of ₹15 crore

A Gurugram-based RTI activist and his family members were booked on Monday for allegedly duping two banks of ₹15 crore by taking multiple loans against a property by transferring it among the family members, the police said

A Gurugram-based RTI activist and his family members were booked on Monday for allegedly duping two banks of ₹15 crore by taking multiple loans against a property by transferring it among the family members, the police said.

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Right to Information (RTI) activist Harinder Dhingra and his two sons were arrested on Monday, while his wife, daughter-in-law and grandson were issued a notice asking them to join the investigation, the police said.

According to the police, the family members attached the house, constructed over 500 square yards in DLF Phase-1, in 2003 for a business loan of around ₹3 crore. When the bank issued a notice over the non-payment of the loan and filed for the attachment of property, he allegedly transferred the property to his elder son, Prashant, and took another loan for ₹8 crore, by mortgaging the property with another bank. He, however, allegedly failed to repay the second loan as well.

The police said when the second bank filed for attachment of the property, Dhingra’s younger son, Tarun, filed a case claiming a stake in the property. The family is accused of cheating the banks and keeping courts in the dark about the pending loans while seeking a transfer of property through court.

The police received a complaint from a resident of Malibu Town on April 16 against the family and after investigation, registered a case under the Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 467, 468, 471 and 120B (criminal conspiracy) on Monday. However, the police did not disclose how the complainant was affected.

Dhingra and his two sons, Prashant and Tarun, were arrested while the rest of the family members were issued notices.

Dhingra and his wife, Poonam, purchased the 500 square yard property in DLF Phase-1 in 2001. In 2003, Poonam and Prashant allegedly took a loan for their export firm from a bank against the property. In 2004, the loan of around ₹3 crore was declared a non-performing asset (NPA) by the bank, which filed a case before the debt recovery tribunal (DRT) in New Delhi for attachment of the property in lieu of the pending loan amount.

Karan Goel, an assistant commissioner of police (ACP), said to save the property from being attached, Prashant approached a district court seeking a claim in the property. “In November 2006, they reached a compromise at the Lok Adalat and transferred the property to Prashant Dhingra. The bank could not attach the property as its ownership changed. The family members had conspired to dupe banks and did not disclose the facts before the court,” he said.

In 2007, Prashant mortgaged the property with another bank for a loan of ₹8 crore for his export firm and this loan was also declared an NPA in 2008. The bank issued a notice for recovery of ₹10 crore (including interest) and approached the DRT Chandigarh seeking attachment of the property.

To allegedly avoid attachment of the property, Tarun filed a case before a Gurugram court challenging the order of the Lok Adalat decision of 2006 and staked a claim in the property. The court stayed the 2006 order of Lok Adalat, following which it was challenged in the Punjab and Haryana high court in February 2016, and the order of the Lok Adalat was overturned. The property was transferred back to Harinder Dhingra and Poonam.

Goel said as a case for attachment of property was pending before the court, Dhingra forged papers and transferred the property to Tarun Dhingra and his grandson Garv, who is Prashant’s son, in December 2016. “All of them live in the same house and kept transferring property among themselves after taking loans from banks,” he said.

“During the investigation, it was found that Dhingra and his family duped the bank as per plan and they took loans that were never repaid and kept on transferring the property to avoid attachment,” said Goel.