Biz partners too fell prey to Malhotra

Sandeep Rana

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Tribune News Service

Panchkula, June 12

It was not only his customers that Panchkula-based broker Manav Malhotra allegedly cheated of crores. He did not spare even his business partners.

Malhotra, who allegedly cheated serving Indian Army colonels, Shimla MP Virender Kashyap’s younger brother and other high profile people in the name of providing them property, also duped his partners in lieu of investment.

Chandigarh-based Naveen Arora, who joined him as a partner in the property dealing business in 2009, ended up working with him. “Manav lured me to invest in the Bhumi Green project, which was to come up near Sukhna Lake adjoining Kishangarh. I invested Rs 40 lakh and he promised that I would get back Rs 52 lakh in three months. I trusted him, being his business partner. However, several months passed and neither did I get the property nor was the money refunded to me. Following this, I stopped working with him, but so far he has done nothing about it and has now gone missing.”

Like others, he too was convinced to give cheques in the name of his company Gauransh Associates and not the builder. In most of the cases, when the complainants approached the builders, they replied that they had not got any payment from Guransh.

Like Arora, Delhi-based Dilreet Grewal was also offered to become his partner but before he could join business with the accused, Grewal’s brother was cheated by Malhotra. “He asked me to become his business partner by investing in a “good project” at Bhiwadi in Panchkula. My brother wanted to buy a flat. Sso he gave him Rs 4 lakh as initial payment around two years ago. But Malhotra has not given him any flat nor returned the money. 

He has gone missing now and is unapproachable,” added Grewal. Another victim Rahul Kaushik, a resident of Gurgaon, who was working under Malhotra, said Malhotra cheated  Kaushik’s father and brother-in-law in the name of investment at Bhiwadi.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Mange Ram of the Economic Offence Wing( EOW) of the Panchkula police claimed they had raided several places but he could not be arrested. “He is attending parties and roaming around in the district, but the police claim they are unable to arrest him. We doubt the intentions of the police,” said Colonel (retd) Rohit Kumar , who has lost Rs 10 lakh to Malhotra.