The Delhi police have arrested a 57-year-old commerce graduate for allegedly duping at least 1,500 people of over Rs 3 crore on the pretext of providing them low-cost houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY). The man had created a website — https://www.nhdoindia.org — and was using the pictures of the Prime Minister and the Union minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation to lure his victims, police said.

The accused, identified as Rajinder Kumar Tripathi who is a resident of Sector-31, Faridabad, was running a trust – National Housing Development Organisation (NHDO) -- from Nehru Place.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Ajit Kumar Singla said that a case was registered in June 2017 on the complaint of the under secretary in the ministry.

“The under secretary had mentioned in the complaint that a person, who is the chairman of National Housing Development Organisation, is using photographs of the prime minister and the minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation on his website with malafide intentions. The complainant further alleged that the ministry had received a complaint along with a forged letter dated February 9, 2017, allegedly written by the chairman of NHDO, in which the organisation had been projected as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed under the Union ministry,” Singla said.

The additional commissioner said that another complaint was received from an advertising firm reporting a forgery by NHDO chairman on the pretext of inviting tenders for organising an event, Rashtriya Awas Divas, for the promotion of PMAY.

“Thereafter, three other companies also came forward with similar allegations against NHDO. It was then we took up the investigation against the NHDO chairman, Rajinder Kumar Tripathi. His accounts were checked and detailed information about him was obtained. Technical surveillance helped us zero in on him and he was arrested on January 3 from Delhi based on the ministry’s complaint,” the officer said.

Singla said that Tripathi told police during interrogation that he was in a private job till 1989 in Gorakhpur, UP, and after that he shifted to Delhi and started an NGO in the name of LIC Policy Holders Welfare Organisation.

“The accused said he started a fake scheme for the NGOs all over India in 2004 and duped them on the pretext of providing loans to women in rural areas. A case of cheating is also registered against Tripathi at Hauz Khas police station. He also confessed to have cheated about 1,500 to 2,000 people on the pretext of getting them houses under prime minister’s housing scheme and earned at least Rs 3 crore. The accused also said he duped four advertising companies of up to Rs 1 crore for giving tender to organise Rashtriya Awas Divas,” Singla said.

First Published: Jan 11, 2019 10:11 IST