3 held for duping man of Rs 45 lakh

Even the thought of procuring milk for his four-year-old son would drive Pradeep Kumar Samanta, 40, an NGO worker, to the brink of suicide, everyday for two months.

Even the thought of procuring milk for his four-year-old son would drive Pradeep Kumar Samanta, 40, an NGO worker, to the brink of suicide, everyday for two months.

HT Image

A resident of Arjun Nagar, Samanta was cheated of every single paisa that he could arrange, by three prominent south Delhi builders, who had, less than three years ago, promised him the keys to his dream home in south Delhi’s posh Safdarjung Enclave.

“Karan Rajput, 58, Ramesh Chander Kalra, 59 and Balbir Singh Nagar, 44, with the help of a local broker, Sanjeev, induced Samanta to purchase a property in B7 block in 2008. They accepted about R45 lakh from him in instalments, money that Samanta procured by exhausting all his savings, before severing all contact with him,” said Chhaya Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (south).

The accused trio, which was apprehended by a team composed of officers from and led by the SHO of Safdarjung Enclave Police Station on Friday, had induced Samanta to purchase the said property, worth Rs 1.10 crore.

Police said the trio had made him sign an ‘Agreement to Sell’ after obtaining Rs 45 lakh from him in three instalments — before they sold it to another buyer as soon as property rates in the area soared.

Samanta, intimidated by the clout that the trio wielded, gradually slipped into depression.

“I used to contemplate suicide every day. I had sold my wife’s jewellery, encashed my LIC policy and didn’t know what to do other than ending my life because I just couldn’t repay the Rs 45 lakh that I had procured from the market. Now, the money, including the interest that I had to pay my creditors, has been restored to me. It’s like being born again,” said Samanta.