Lookout circular issued against GBP directors

Tribune News Service

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, May 19

The Income Tax Department has issued a lookout circular (LOC) against the directors of Gupta Builders and Promoters Private Limited (GBP) for evading tax.

An official of the department said the LOC was issued against GBP directors Pardeep Kumar, Satish Kumar and Raman Kumar for not remitting the tax deducted at source (TDS) with the department to the tune of nearly Rs 30 crore, including penalties. The LOC was issued to make sure that the directors, who are absconding, are not able to leave the country.

The directors of the GBP have already been booked by the Chandigarh and Mohali police in several cases for duping nearly 1,500 investors by taking money from them on account of residential, commercial properties, investment and other real estate dealings.

People from the tricity, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir among others had invested their hard-earned money in various housing projects of the GBP. The real estate firm management and the staff had been incommunicado for the past quite some time and even offices of the firm have been found locked.

Scores of people had approached the Mohali police recently and claimed a fraud to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore by the GBP management. The police had registered a case under Sections 406, 420 and120-B of the IPC and started investigation as the builders have several projects in Zirakpur, Mohali, Kharar, New Chandigarh and other places.

A case had already been registered against the group for illegal carving of plots in New Chandigarh. Two cases of selling commercial sites in Sector 66 in Mohali without approval is at the investigation stage.

The GBP builders’ residential and commercial project, Camelia, in Kharar and GBP Centrum in Zirakpur are under construction since 2016. Residential and commercial project, Athens, on Airport Road is also said to be incomplete. In New Chandigarh, a proposed residential colony is yet to enter the construction stage.

A few days ago, the UT police had also registered one more FIR against the directors of the GBP group for duping 29 people of nearly Rs 7 crore on the pretext of selling plots in Mohali. It was the 14th cheating case registered against the directors of the GBP group.

The complainants alleged that the directors of the GBP had cheated them of nearly Rs 7 crore on the pretext of selling plots in Mullanpur in 2018-2019. However, after taking money from the complainants, the directors neither gave possession of the plots nor returned the money to the investors. On April 22, the police had registered four cheating cases against the directors and officials of the GBP.

Were booked for duping 1.5K investors

The directors of the GBP have already been booked by the Chandigarh and Mohali police in several cases for duping nearly 1,500 investors by taking money from them on account of residential, commercial properties, investment and other real estate dealings.

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