Man arrested in west Delhi for duping over 100 investors by promising them higher returns

New Delhi, November 11

A man has been arrested for allegedly duping over 100 investors on the pretext of promising them higher returns in his commercial project based in Noida, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, Satinder Singh Bhasin, a resident of Rajouri Garden in west Delhi, was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police on Tuesday and has been released on bail as per directions of a Delhi court, they said.

Bhasin had started a commercial project in Noida in 2012-13 and had not delivered the possession till date, police said.

Through his project, he promised higher returns to his investors but duped at least 120 of them on the pretext of starting the project and collecting the amount from public at large without having a valid license of the same, they added.

The matter, however, came to light in 2018, when police received several complaints from various people against Bhasin and his company, police said.

According to the complainants, in 2012-13, alleged company Mist Avenue Pvt. Ltd. invited people through an advertisement to invest in one of its Nodia-based projects, they said.

Initially, they claimed to build a building's 33 floors in 99 days and collected money from people but they kept raising multiple fraudulent demands without constructing it in real as agreed and even levied interest on the amount paid, police said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (EOW) O P Mishra said that later the accused changed the name of the company and the project.

In 2012-2013, they had assured that possession of its project will be delivered within 2015 but they arbitrarily extended the date of completion to 2022, forcing the allottees to enter into a new contract with the alleged new company. The project has been kept in abeyance without any further construction, police said.

"The victims also alleged that the said company threatened to forfeit 35 per cent of the amount paid if any demand of returning the invested money is raised. However, in spite of all this, the accused company did not hand over the allotted units or refund the money of the investors," he said.

During investigation, it was revealed that the alleged company had no authority to make the project while it was some other company which had been granted a license for the development of the project, Mishra said.

Without due diligence about the land, the accused started the project and collected money from people. The details of the bank accounts were received which revealed the collection of money from public at large, the officer said.

The man had earlier as well started a project in Greater Noida which has remained in controversy and he was also arrested in several cases in Uttar Pradesh pertaining to this project, he added. PTI

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