Cheat sells govt land to ad firm owner for Rs. 1.94 cr

Taking a leaf out of the Bollywood flick ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, a south Delhi-based advertising company owner has been cheated of Rs. 1.94 crore by a self-styled real estate expert, who sold him a couple of huge plots that actually belonged to the Government of Rajasthan, Karn Pratap Singh reports.

Taking a leaf out of the Bollywood flick ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, a south Delhi-based advertising company owner has been cheated of Rs. 1.94 crore by a self-styled real estate expert, who sold him a couple of huge plots that actually belonged to the government of Rajasthan.

HT Image

The real estate expert is based in Rajasthan’s Alwar. Ten days after an FIR was registered at the Amar Colony police station in connection with the fraud, a team led by SHO Virender Jain nabbed the accused from a resort located on the Delhi-Haryana border. The accused, Dinesh Chand Gupta, 40, was with a female friend when the police conducted a raid at the resort following information about Gupta’s presence there, said a police officer.

The victim, Vikas Goyal, in his complaint had told the police that Gupta had approached him with an offer of investing money in purchasing around 10 acres of land in Rajasthan, especially in Alwar, at a throwaway price. Gupta was shown plots that actually were properties of the Rajasthan Government.

“Hearing the profit Gupta quoted, Goyal threw caution to the winds. Not only did he accept Gupta’s proposal to hire him as a consolidator, he also paid Rs. 1.94 crore in cash to Gupta without even verifying his claims and recommendations. Though Goyal claimed that he was not ready to pay in cash, Gupta said the land belonged to farmers who did not have bank accounts,” said a senior officer, adding the entire amount was paid at Goyal’s office in East of Kailash.

Goyal told police that despite repeated requests, Gupta never let him meet the actual sellers of the plots. In fact, none of the documents were signed in the presence of Goyal. Gupta provided him forged documents of the plots. The entire fraud committed by Gupta, the officer said, was revealed when Goyal tried to get the purchased properties registered in his name. When he went to Alwar to take possession , he was told that the plots belonged to the government of Rajasthan.