DUO BOOKED FOR DUPING ARMY MAN’S WIFE IN FAKE LAND DEAL

GURUGRAM: The police booked two city-based businessmen for allegedly duping an Army officer’s wife by promising her a plot at Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, 42 kilometres from Gurugram, along with a large return on her investment, officials said on Saturday.

According to the police, a resident of Delhi Cantonment approached them on Friday alleging that a distant relative, a resident of Rajiv Nagar in Gurugram, along with a real estate agent based in Sector 31, duped her of ₹14.5 lakh, after promising her a plot in a project, which was later found to be non-existent, at Bhiwadi.

A case was registered at Sector 40 police station under sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 506 of the IPC. The police said that the accused floated a private firm and sold plots measuring 175 square yards with a buyback scheme in four years. Nitesh Sharma, the distant relative, allegedly introduced the woman to Manoj Choudhary, who owns a shop in Sector 31 market and through his real estate project, sold the plot, by promising the woman a yearly return of 25%.

The woman, in July 2014, paid ₹2 lakh for booking the plot and in August, paid ₹1.5 lakh followed by ₹6.5 lakh during the agreement and ₹ 4.4 lakh in September of the same year, said police.

“The woman invested the money without verifying the documents of the plots that she was purchasing. It was later found that the firm did not own any land in Bhiwadi but sold a plot to the woman,” said Shamsher Singh, assistant commissioner of police (crime).

After one year, when the woman asked the real estate agent to take her to the site, he refused and said the deal had been cancelled and promised to return the amount. He gave her three cheques, all of which bounced, the police said.