Woman held for duping elderly man of ₹60 lakh on pretext of selling plot

Gurugram: Several people were booked for allegedly cheating ₹60 lakh from an elderly city resident on the pretext of selling him a plot at a prime location after advertising about it on a prominent website dealing in real estate, police said on Wednesday

Gurugram: Several people were booked for allegedly cheating ₹60 lakh from an elderly city resident on the pretext of selling him a plot at a prime location after advertising about it on a prominent website dealing in real estate, police said on Wednesday.

Woman held for duping elderly man of ₹60 lakh on pretext of selling plot

According to police, a woman suspect impersonated herself as the owner of a 420 square metre (sqm) plot in DLF Phase I and a male accomplice negotiated with the victim who wanted to purchase it.

Police said one of the prime suspects, identified as Muskaan Khatri (22), who allegedly faked her identity as Gauri Murti to deal with the victim, was arrested from her rented accommodation in DLF Phase I on Tuesday night. Police said her laptop and fake identity documents were also seized.

Investigators said that Khatri and at least four other suspects, including her family members, allegedly used to gather information on empty plots at prime locations across Gurugram city whose owners stay abroad and then prepared forged deeds to cheat people. Police said that the other suspects are yet to be arrested.

According to police, the victim, identified as Sushil Kumar (62), a resident of South City I, had finalised a deal for ₹12.25 crore to purchase the plot and paid ₹60 lakh as advance to the suspects after signing the sale agreement on December 18.

However, Kumar’s grandson Aditya took the initiative to verify the ownership from authorities and came to know that some other woman is the real owner of the plot.

Police said that Kumar submitted a complaint on the basis of which an FIR was registered against the suspects under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using forged document or electronic record as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at DLF Phase I police station on Tuesday night.

Kumar alleged in the FIR that his grandson had found the advertisement on the website along with a contact number and sent a WhatsApp message, expressing interest in the property.

Investigators said the suspects deliberately did not reply for 10 days and finally called them on December 16.

A senior police officer said that Kumar’s nephew and grandson travelled to Sector 85 in Faridabad to meet the suspects but the residential address that they had provided also turned out to be fake.

“In Faridabad, Khatri presented a forged deed before them showing the plot was purchased by her mother on December 3, 1985. Later, Kumar paid the advance amount, while the rest of the money was to be paid before the registry which was to be executed on April 15, 2023. Kumar took the pan card and Aadhaar card details, deeds and other documents from the suspects but they were all forged,” the officer said.

Investigators said the suspects had got a forged deed registered against another 420 sqm plot in DLF Phase I owned by a resident of Greater Kailash in Delhi, but settled in Dubai, in an attempt to sell it for which a separate FIR was registered at Sector 56 police station on July 8.

Subhash Boken, public relations officer of the Gurugram police, said further investigations are underway and the other suspects will be arrested at the earliest.