Dream of home turns a scam: Delhi man cons 242 buyers through allotment fraud, held

GURGAON: Economic offences wing of Haryana Police has arrested a 33-year-old man for allegedly cheating people on the pretext of allotting flats in a housing society in Sector 55.

Anubhav Bhardwaj, a resident of Mohan Garden, Delhi, was arrested on June 8 at Delhi Airport while he was allegedly planning to leave for Indonesia. A lookout circular was issued against him last year.

Police said the case was registered at Sector 56 police station after a woman alleged that she was induced by her husband’s former colleague Ishpal Bhardwaj to invest in a flat in Sunehra Apna Ghar Society between 2006 and 2007. She paid around Rs 37.5 lakh in instalments between 2008 and 2013.

Bhardwaj had told the couple that after he left his job in the Air Force, he worked with a private bank before joining the real estate business. He allegedly offered to give them a discounted flat in Sector 55 on Golf Course Road, and showed them several projects that he had purportedly finished, including a residential complex called Chandra Housing Society in Sector 55, next to which he was proposing the Sunehra Apna Ghar housing society.

Bhardwaj had offered the couple a 3BHK house of 1,440 square feet and had taken Rs 4 lakh as an advance (10% of Rs 40 lakh), along with their documents. By 2010, the couple had allegedly paid Bhardwaj Rs 20 lakh, following which he gave them the share certificate, allotment letter and the flat plan, along with the list of 94 members.

After completing the valuation of the flat, the woman paid Bhardwaj another Rs 17.5 lakh. She alleged that while the construction work progressed in full swing till 2013, it stopped after that.

“After the construction stopped, the family did not get a refund, following which a cheating case was registered in April 2017,” an officer said.

During investigation, EOW found that Ishpal Bhardwaj, along with five other accused — his son Anubhav, his brother-in-law Pradeep, his brother Sandeep, Amit Kumar and Jagbir — had purportedly collected money from 242 applicants but failed to give them refunds.

“The society had only 94 flats. The investigation also found that Anubhav was not an authorised representative of the society but was involved in signing a fake memorandum of understanding with another company for sale of flats,” the officer added.

Police further alleged that the accused opened a fake bank account in the name of the society and deposited crores collected from the public into it. The money was allegedly being misappropriated by them.

Anubhav was produced before a court on June 9 and was sent to two days’ police custody. The police team is questioning him regarding the recovery of the cheated amount, identification of other accused and financial transactions linked to the case.