Three arrested in Rs 523-crore property fraud in Gurugram

Sanjay Yadav

Gurugram, February 10

Gurugram police have busted a three-member gang in connection with Rs 523-crore property fraud. They allegedly sold off plots in posh areas like DLF, Sushant lok and Palam Vihar using fake documents. Each carried a bounty of Rs 1 lakh.

The police suspect alleged involvement of revenue officials and employees of Ansal builder.

It was in February last year that three other members of the gang, including a woman, were nabbed while the trio evaded police for a year. Police have identified four more accused, including the mastermind of the gang identified as Sanjay Kathuria currently living in Dubai.

The police have recovered fake Aadhaar cards, voter cards and other documents from the accused. They were produced in a city court and sent in judicial custody.

The accused have been identified as Kavita Rani alias Riya Sehgal (33), Rahul (29) and Ranvir Kumar (49), residents of Punjab. All three are matric pass and were involved in the fraud for the last two years.

The trio would identify plots not attended to by owners and registered in 90s. The primary targets would be NRIs. Sources said a WhatsApp group of the gang was formed in Delhi-NCR, in which information about the plots was shared.

The registries would not have pictures. They would pose as owners and transfer it in another member's name and then sell it off using fake stamp papers. The trio had fake bank accounts and made crores.

“They required fake bank accounts to transfer the money to mastermind in Dubai and had thus opened fake bank accounts in name of Punjab residents and transferred money to fake companies. Details of the bank accounts reveal transfers worth Rs 523 crore and we are informing ED. They surely had tehsil officials in connivance and we are investigating,” said Preet Pal Singh Sangwan, ACP, crime.

Sangwan added that they are trying to nab four other accused identified as mastermind Sanjay Kathuria, Sandeep alias Mota, Ajay Sehgal and Rakesh Kumar alias Ram.

One of the victims of the gang is an 82-year-old woman identified as Dr Satya Suri. Her son, neurologist Dr Vineet Suri was shocked to learn that somebody sold his mother's plot posing as him.