A 37-year-old builder has been arrested for duping two persons by selling the flats bought by them to different persons in south Delhi’s Fatehpur Beri, the police said on Wednesday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Vijay Kumar said that the accused has been identified as Yogesh Kumar Bhati, a resident of Sultanpur village.

The police said that on March 8, they received a complaint from one Sanjeet Kumar. In it, Sanjeet said that Mr. Bhati was constructing flats for sale and he got him interested in the property. A few days later, a meeting was held where a deal was finalised, Sanjeet said in the complaint.

“He booked one flat measuring 630 square feet in Sultanpur village by agreement of sale dated January 27, 2017, with Mr. Bhati. The total value of the flat was ₹28 lakh. The complainant paid the entire amount to the accused in different transactions,” DCP Kumar said.

Subsequently, the victim got the possession of the house in 2018, but had to lock the house as Yogesh had to carry out some “renovation work”, the police said.

On January 7 this year, when the victim went to see the flat, he found some people living in the house, who allegedly told him that they had purchased it from Mr. Bhati.

“When he called the builder and enquired as to how he sold the house to someone else, the accused agreed to return his money with damages. He handed him a cheque of ₹34 lakh and also promised to pay balance in due time,” the officer said.

When the victim tried to encash the cheque, it bounced and the accused also stopped taking his calls thereafter, the police said.

A similar complaint was made by one Tanuj Kumar, who said that he had bought a flat with three separate portions from Mr. Bhati and had paid him ₹60 lakh in 2018. After he was given possession, the accused made the same excuse.

“The accused told Tanuj that some renovation work needed to be done at the house. When the complainant went to see the property later, he was shocked to see the three portions bought by him were occupied by three different parties,” said the officer.

The police also said that the accused neither cooperated with them in the investigation, nor responded to notices sent by the police. The accused was finally traced and arrested on Tuesday, the police said.

“He [the accused] revealed that he had sold the same property through sale deed to different persons and received ₹30 lakh per flat from the buyers,” the DCP said.