Two held for duping man of ₹5cr in fake real estate projects

Gurugram police arrested two directors of a shell firm for duping a man of ₹5.4 crore in fake real estate investments involving disputed land.

The Economic Offences Wing of Gurugram police arrested two directors of a shell firm on Thursday from Noida’s Sector 62 for allegedly duping a resident of ₹5.4 crore in two fake real estate projects investments.

Police said the two had formed a shell firm to dupe people by making them invest in fictitious real estate development plans. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to officers, the accused are a 60-year-old resident of Gautam Nagar in Delhi and a 40-year-old from Brij Vihar in Ghaziabad. Police said the two had formed a shell firm to dupe people by making them invest in fictitious real estate development plans.

They showed two land parcels – one of 35 acres in Silokhra in Sector 41 and another of 30 acres in Vaishali, Ghaziabad –- to the complainant and said these were upcoming real estate projects.

Both the lands, owned by a deceased religious figure, has ashrams built on them.

The Silokhra property alone has a market value of at least ₹3,500 crore and it was taken over by Haryana government as the owner had no legal heir, officials said.

“They made him pay ₹5.4 crore in installments for the said deal but never entered into any agreement for handing him over the sale rights,” Turan said.

Police said the victim later grew suspicious and gathered information about the plots when he got to know that they were disputed and under government’s control.

On the basis of the complaint on April 15, an FIR was registered against both suspects for cheating and forgery at Sector 40 police station and the case was handed over to the Economic Offences Wing for investigation, leading to their arrest.

The duo was produced before a city court on Friday and taken into four-day police remand for detailed interrogation.