A 40-year-old builder has been arrested from Jaipur for allegedly duping investors of ₹38 lakh on the pretext of giving them plots on Ajmer-Jaipur Road, the police said on Wednesday.
The accused, Anil Kumar Sharma, is the chief managing director of a construction firm he started in 2000 in the name of “A Class Prop Build Pvt. Limited”. In order to raise more funds, he kept launching new projects and used the raised funds from one project to the other project, as a modus operandi to dupe investors, the police said.
A probe was initiated against Mr. Sharma after the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police received several complaints against the builder. The complainants alleged that they had purchased plots of lands from the accused situated at Asiana Enclave on NH-8, Ajmer-Jaipur Road from 2012 to 2014. They alleged that they had paid the full amount but till date were yet to get the plot.
A total of 17 investors were duped, the police said.
After preliminary enquiry, a case was registered against Mr. Sharma in 2018. During investigation, bank details were verified and relevant documents were scrutinised. Investigation from government land authorities revealed that no approval in the name of project “Ashiana Enclave” was given by them. Further, bank records revealed that the accused was beneficiary of cheated money, said Joint Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) O.P. Mishra.
“The accused had been avoiding to join inquiry despite repeated notices. A team was constituted and he was arrested from Jaipur on Tuesday. He was produced before a Delhi court and has been taken into one-day police remand,” he said.
During the course of investigation, it was revealed that Mr. Sharma started housing projects with the name “Ashiana Enclave” at NH-8, Ajmer Road, Jaipur and made wide publicity with false promises. He took investments in the form of booking amounts and initial deposits for promised housing units without ownership and taking required approvals from the regulating authorities, the officer said.