Noida: Man held for duping people by fraudulent ‘booking’ of flats

The man and his accomplice allegedly took money from a man in 2015 for ‘booking’ him a Noida flat that belonged to someone else

A 29-year-old allegedly involved in cheating people worth lakhs of rupees on the pretext of booking flats in Noida and Greater Noida was arrested by the police on late Wednesday evening.

The man, Rahul Singhania, was arrested by Noida police after a tip-off.

According to the police, the man has been identified as Rahul Singhania from Odisha. They added that he had been absconding for two years and was arrested from Sector 15 on the basis of inputs provided by informers. He was arrested in a cheating case lodged against him at Sector 58 police station by Sector 19 resident Sandeep Nagar.

Police said Singhania opened a property dealer’s office in Sector 58, which Nagar visited in August 2015 as he wanted to buy a 2BHK flat in Noida. Police said he was shown a flat, belonging to someone else, along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.

Investigating officer Shiv Raj Singh said, “Singhania and his accomplice Kunal Dogra showed Nagar a flat and sought three months to furnish it. The two gave Nagar fake receipts for payment of Rs44.20 lakh. After three months, when Nagar tried to contact them, they asked for more time. When the second deadline also passed, the two switched off their phones.”

Singh said the duo remained active in Noida and Greater Noida and continued to cheat people even after closing their office. They are involved in at least three other similar cases registered at different police stations, he added.

On Wednesday evening, a team of Sector 58 police station received information that Singhania was waiting for someone in Sector 15, following which they arrested him. Dogra too was arrested two months ago.

Police said Singhania was questioned and produced in court on Thursday afternoon, after which he was remanded to judicial custody. He has been living in Noida for over five years and police is inquiring whether he cheated more people, they added.