DDA scam surfaced after property dealers fell out

The alleged irregularities in the DDA housing scheme 2008 could not have been unearthed had it not been for a property dealer who fell out with a big real estate player.

The alleged irregularities in the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) housing scheme 2008 could not have been unearthed had it not been for a property dealer who fell out with a big real estate player. It was this property dealer — Ramesh Kumar (name changed) who alerted Udit Raj, President of the Indian Justice Party, a complainant in the said case, and provided him with the details about the irregularities in the allotment of flats in the reserved category.

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“The life of this property dealer is in danger. We are not revealing his name. He had been working for a major real estate agent in Dwarka for five years and fell out with him a few months ago. It was at his behest that the scam could be unearthed,” said Udit Raj.

It was on the basis of documents provided by Kumar that Raj gave a formal complaint to the police.
This is how the scam worked
· A cartel of property dealers bought more than 1,000 forms and furnished information from villagers in Rajasthan and financed the scheme through banks by paying a processing fee of Rs 5,000 each.

· According to Kumar, the agents working for the property dealers first took a “dummy form” to several villages in Rajasthan and either forced or fooled the villagers to provide them with their details. “The agents went to Jhunjhunu, Kothputli and Jaipur in Rajasthan and collected the names and addresses of people belonging to the reserved category. While one of the villager claimed that he had given his details to an agent for making his ration card, others said they had no idea why their information was being sought,” said Raj.

· The draw of lots was conducted on December 16 last year and several fictitious people won the draw.

· The property dealers involved in the scam would then sell the flats in the grey market.

Raj said he wrote a letter to the DDA on October 31, 2008 and alerted them about the discrepancies in the application forms of the SC/ST category residents. He later wrote a letter to the commissioner of police (Crime) on December 2 and informed about the irregularities. The EOW of Delhi Police replied on January 2 asking for the names and addresses of the people who said that they never applied for the project. The police also asked him to provide the names of such suspected fictitious applicants.

In a reply on December 18, two days after the draw was conducted, Neelam Chadha, Director (Housing) II, DDA replied to Raj’s query that “they had forwarded the letter to the bank and the Income Tax department and DDA only sold the forms, they were collected through the bank.”