Look-out notice for Hyderabad realtor

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad police have booked criminal cases against well-known city realtor Gowri Shankar Gupta (GS Gupta) and nine of his associates for duping construction giant DLF of over Rs 280 crore. Gupta is now absconding and a look-out circular has been issued to immigration officials at international airports to prevent him from fleeing the country.
Based on two separate complaints lodged by DLF Universal Limited’s managers, the central crime station has booked cases under sections 406 (Criminal breach of trust), 420 (Cheating) and 120-B (Criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against GS Gupta and his associates, including his wife Sarita Gupta, brother Gopal Gupta, Komal Agarwal, directors of SBPL Infrastructure Private Limited, Anita Agarwal, Radhey Shyam Gupta, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Amit Agarwal, Megha Gupta and Mangari Gupta, for duping DLF of over Rs 280 crore through their front companies.
Gupta and his front companies operate out of offices in GS Plaza, Road Number 1, Banjara Hills.
Meanwhile, Gupta and his associates filed anticipatory bail petitions in the Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge court and the matter has been posted to March 3.
According to DLF complaints, Gupta and his front companies collected Rs 284 crore as advance payment from the construction company by luring them to sign memoranda of understanding (MoUs) for joint development of three real estate ventures in the city and Mumbai between 2006 and 2008.
CCS officers said Gupta had approached DLF in August 2006 with a proposal to jointly develop 5.24 acre land (municipal numbers 1-2-528 and 1-2-591) at Lower Tank Bund. As a part of the deal, he took Rs 11 crore as an advance amount from DLF against the security of land and building admeasuring 967 square yards along with 36,000 square feet (sft) constructed area situated at survey numbers 106, 107, 109, 110, 113 and part of 121 at link Road 10 & 11 of Banjara Hills. However, the DLF later discovered that the secured land had already been sold to several people.
“Gupta represented that the secured land was in their possession, knowing fully well that it has already been sold. Thereby, they have deceitfully mortgaged the property with DLF,” the complaint stated.
Subsequently, Gupta again approached DLF claiming that through his ‘powerful connections’ managed to secure ‘Development and Managing Rights’ of 5.61 acres of old Gandhi Medical College land in Basheerbagh. That was done in the name of a consortium comprising M/s SBPL Infrastructure Limited, GSG Resorts Pvt Limited and Ascot constructions Pvt Limited, all belonging to his associates, CCS investigators said.
He lured DLF to join the project by investing 50% of the total project cost and subsequently secured Rs 43 crore from them on various pretexts, including security deposit between October 2006 and January 2007.
By this time, the DLF management became suspicious as no ground work was going on at the proposed sites. Sensing that, Gupta again approached the firm for the third time with a mega offer to jointly take up various real estate projects through SBPL Infrastructure Ltd on 63 acres of land in Katedan, 26 acres near Metro in Kukatpally, 93 acres in Kukatpally and 78 acres in Jubilee Hills.
He had also proposed to jointly form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to bid for land of National Textile Corporation (NTC) in Mumbai.
In relation to these projects, he secured Rs 226 crore from DLF between November 2007 and August 2008. However, according to the DLF, no such projects were taken up by Gupta and his associates and no SPV was formed. Despite several reminders, they failed to refund the money.
“As per the MoU, Gupta undertook to spend each penny (only) after prior approval from DLF and to refund the money if the project did not proceed within a year. However, it has been learnt that Gupta through their companies has illicitly transferred and misused Rs 280 crore invested by DLF without its prior permission,” the complaint said.