School dropout who was an expert in forging papers

Jitender was instrumental in selling more than 50 EWS apartments to people across the state within three years of joining Chotani and became a close aide.

Among the four people arrested by the police in the alleged housing scam is 28-year-old Jitender, alias Jeetu, a close aide of the suspected kingpin Sumit Chotani. A native of Kithana village in Kaithal, he moved to the city in pursuit of a job when he was 13 years old.

In January 2012 that a friend, a plumber, of Jitender introduced him to Sumit Chotani, the kingpin of the alleged scam. (Representative Image)

In the next 15 years, Jitender was moving around in an SUV with two armed bouncers, had sold properties worth ₹100 crore across Haryana to unsuspecting buyers and constructed his own house in Narwana, the police said. He liked to be called ‘Chhota Jabar’ after a gangster named Jabra Singh, alias Jabar, of Ladwa, Kurukshetra, who was wanted for several murders, attempt to murder, robbery and dacoity cases. He started posing as his younger brother, which helped him breeze through the process of forging documents.

He, however, ran out of luck on April 25, when he was arrested after Chotani gave away information about him to the police.

In 2005, Jitender, a class 7 drop-out, started working as a peon in a real estate office in Saraswati Vihar, Chakkarpur and worked there for the next seven years. “He took a keen interest in documentation work at the office. He was liked by the employers. In 2005, when the real estate business was booming, he got ample opportunities to prove his worth,” said Muhammad Akil, commissioner of police.

The police said he did all the pending clerical work after office hours to know more about the business. “His employers told us that he would get up early and clean the office and keep all the documents ready for meetings. After two years, he had started attending meetings with his employers to understand how the meetings worked,” said Mukesh Kumar Mann, station house officer, Badshahpur police station.

Gradually, his employers started engaging him for the general power of attorney (GPA) cases, wherein he was tasked with taking sellers and buyers to the tehsil office in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, said police. “In 2011, he had earned a name in the local real estate circuit and had started receiving offers from competitors, but he had plans to build his own empire. He had also started charging a commission on each file and his income increased from ₹6,000 a month to ₹30,000,” said Mann.

It was in January 2012 that a friend, a plumber, of Jitender introduced him to Sumit Chotani, the kingpin of the alleged scam.

“Initially, he charged Rs50,000 per GPA and after he got six files cleared, Chotani offered him a partnership and discussed a project of ₹10 crore with him. He quickly agreed. Chotani formed a group of six people and started operations from an office in Sector 51,” said Mann.

The police said Chotani was completely dependent on Jitender for the documentation. He used to present fake sellers and witnesses during registration. “They used to sell an apartment between ₹8 lakh and ₹12 lakh,” said Mann.

Jitender had also befriended bodybuilders and bouncers, who were deployed at different clubs in Gurugram and had a weapon’s licence. “He often borrowed SUVs and drivers from his friends. He took his bouncer friends along for the registration and collecting payments from buyers,” said Mann.

Jitender was instrumental in selling more than 50 EWS apartments to people across the state within three years of joining Chotani and became a close aide.

After people started complaining of fraud, they went underground and Chotani asked Jitender to shift his base to Narwana. He had started operating from his house in 2017, from where he was arrested last week, police said.

The police are on the lookout for witnesses and bouncers .