Delhi Police nabs private firm's director in housing project scam

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) The Delhi Police has arrested a 38-year-old director of a private infrastructure firm for allegedly duping more than 30 investors of over Rs 2.3 crore in the name of a housing project in Rajasthan, an official said on Thursday.

Yogesh Sharma, a resident of Noida and director of M/s Big Bull Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, was caught in Noida, police said in its official statement, adding that he had been declared a proclaimed offender by a Delhi court last year after failing to appear in proceedings related to a cheating case.

“Sharma and his associates launched a pre-launch housing project, Big Bull Ashiana, at Chandwaji on the Jaipur-Delhi highway and lured investors with promises of lucrative returns and assured plots,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) Ravi Kumar Singh said in an official statement.

More than 31 investors, most of them from middle-class backgrounds, had put their life savings into the project, he said.

After collecting crores of rupees, the accused shut their office and vanished. "Neither was the mandatory approval from Jaipur Development Authority obtained for conversion of the land into residential use, nor was any construction carried out,” the officer added.

Investigations revealed that around 18 bighas of land purchased in Chandwaji in the name of the project were subsequently sold to third parties. Sharma even executed part of the sale deed himself, police said, adding that he put up misleading project boards on adjoining land to lure unsuspecting investors.

Sharma, an MBA in finance and marketing, allegedly floated brochures and pamphlets claiming completion of several projects, falsely listing the Chandwaji venture as one of them. He also kept shifting offices to evade investors and law enforcement, police said.

The officer added that multiple FIRs have been registered against Sharma in Delhi, Jaipur and Noida, relating to cheating, forgery, and criminal breach of trust. His previous cases include FIRs in Jaipur’s Paniyala police station, Noida’s Sector-20 police station, and Delhi’s Rajouri Garden, among others, he added.

Sharma has been booked under sections of cheating, criminal breach of trust, and forgery. Further investigation is underway to identify other victims and trace the money trail, police said. PTI SSJ SSJ AMJ AMJ