At least four FIRs have been filed against the GBP Group in Chandigarh alone. File AS MANY as 150 complaints have so far been received against the owners of Gupta Brothers Promoters (GBP) for cheating investors on the pretext of selling them dwelling units in various housing projects in the peripheral areas of Chandigarh.
Officers of the UT’s Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) confirmed that nearly 150 complaints, all of which were being probed before being turned into FIRs shortly.
Sources said the approximated total cheated amount in the 150 complaints was more than Rs 70 crore. They added that though complaints were received from many states, most of the company’s victims were from Punjab, Himachal, Haryana, and Delhi.
The GBP owners — identified as Pardeep Kumar Gupta, Satish Kumar Gupta, Ram Gupta, Anupam Gupta, and others — have been absconding since September last year and are believed to be present in Dubai.
“Around 150 complaints have been received so far against the owners of M/s GBP Pvt Ltd in Sector 34. The group has half a dozen mega housing projects in the periphery of Chandigarh, especially in Mohali. We are segregating the complaints as per their housing project. Initially, we have decided to club all these complaints into one FIR. But as the complainants were cheated in the name of investment in many housing projects, separate FIRs can be registered. As per our feedback, the accused owners of the GBP Group are in Dubai. We are in constant touch with the Directorate of Immigration,” a police officer said.
IG (EOW), Omvir Singh Bishnoi, and SP (City/EOW), Ketan Bansal are supervising the investigations of the multi-crore property fraud. Sources said, “As the commercial office of the M/S GBP Pvt Ltd is located in Sector 34, victims handed over cash, cheques to the accused and their staff members in Sector 34. Hence, these 150 complaints were filed before the Chandigarh police. In Mohali also, five FIRs were registered against the builders.”
Sources said the 150 complainants include retired employees, businessmen, women, and some NRIs. GBP group had started housing projects in Kharar, Zirakpur, Peermuchalla to lure investors and many of the complainants had mortgaged their properties to invest in these housing projects. The accused owners had given cheques to some of the investors when they failed to hand over the possession of properties. But these cheques bounced in the banks.
Meanwhile, there are four FIRs that have been already registered against the GBP Pvt Ltd in Chandigarh. Police said that in one of the cases, the booked owners managed to get interim protection from a local court, but they did not join the police investigation. Two of the FIRs were registered with the Economic Offence Wing (EOW), UT police, and one other was lodged in Sector 34 police station.
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