The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police have arrested a fraudster for illegal sale of government property worth Rs 45 crore, an official said here on Friday.
Furnishing details about the case, which probably seemed ripped from a Bollywood flick 'Khosla Ka Ghosla', the official said a complaint was filed by Timpi Sabharwal stating that she was approached by the accused identified as Rockes B. Sandhu and S.P. Garg who offered her a lucrative proposal for selling a land near Karbala, New Delhi for a total sale consideration of Rs 45 crore.
Sandhu had also confirmed having all authority and rights for selling the land in question and induced her to enter into a letter of intent for the same and subsequently, on the basis of his misrepresentation, Timpi paid an amount of Rs 3.19 crore to him as advance money. "The full and final payment was to be made when the sale-deed was to be executed in favour of the complainant but once he usurped the aforesaid amount, he had lost interest in the deal and never executed sale-deed," the official said.
After filing the complaint, the police immediately swung into action and started probing the matter. The first thing the cops came to know was that as per the revenue record, the land in question was government land and was placed at the disposal of the DDA. The police, after getting all these details, constituted a team to apprehend the accused.
The accused was absconding since the registration of an FIR and shifted to places such as Inderpuri, Delhi, Chandigarh and later to Amritsar in Punjab. Thus, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against Sandhu. Thereafter, on the basis of technical surveillance, the accused offender Sandhu was located nearby the Connaught Place in Delhi and was arrested. He was later taken to a local court which sent him to three days of police custody.
Sharing details about the accused's modus operandi, the police said Sandhu used to identify the unoccupied or vacant properties through property brokers and thereafter, float lucrative offers and minimal prices for the property to induce the public. After taking advance payment, he used to flee away. Deputy Commissioner of Police-III (Economic Offences Wing) K. Ramesh urged the people to take proper measures before investing in any property.
"Before investing in property, do proper verification and due diligence from land-owning agencies with regard to status of property," he said. Further investigation of the case is still in progress, the official added.
-With PTI Inputs
