A retired Lt. Colonel was arrested for allegedly cheating army personnel on the pretext of providing them residential plots, the police said on Wednesday.
The accused has been identified as Rakesh Rana, a resident of Dwarka’s Sector-18A. He was previously involved in two criminal cases, they said.
The police said one Havaldar Chandan Kumar, along with other army personnel, alleged that they have been cheated by SWO-India Ltd., to the tune of around ₹88 lakh.
They alleged that the accused showed them rosy pictures of the ‘Veer Aawas Bokaro Project’ and assured that they were running an NGO in the name of SWO-India for the benefit of army personnel. It was also told that no-profit motive was there in the projects.
The investors were asked to deposit money in SWO India Ltd. The company, through its official, ensured that they would provide residential plots to the investors at Bokaro in Jharkhand, the police said. Assured by the accused, the victims invested money in the plots.
During investigation, it was revealed that Rana induced the army personnel that the whole project was on a 20-acre land and the land had been purchased and necessary approvals had been taken, a senior police officer said. The company provided an allocation-letter-cum-agreement on the receipt of the total amount, but it neither provided the plots, nor returned their money. Even the company has no land and requisite approval from authority concerned, the police said.
“During investigation, it was revealed that Rana, retired Lt. Colonel, Kirti Chakra Vijeta, was the mastermind. He was arrested on Tuesday from one of his residences at Dwarka. He was also the authorised signatory of various accounts of the company,” Joint CP (EOW) O.P. Mishra said.