The case was registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which has already been probing at least five FIRs out of eight against the builders in Chandigarh. A fresh FIR was registered Tuesday against absconding promoters of GBP Pvt Ltd, a real estate and housing project group, for cheating at least 29 people of crores of rupees. Sources said builders cheated each person of Rs 39 lakh to Rs 55 lakh. The case was registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which has already been probing at least five FIRs out of eight against the builders in Chandigarh.
Around a dozen FIRs were registered in other states, including Punjab and Haryana. The booked builders are Satish Gupta, Raman Gupta, Pardeep Gupta and Anupam Gupta. Sources said the investigation suggests that all of them are abroad. The fresh FIR was registered on the statement of Darmian Singh, a resident of Sector 20.
Police said that the FIR pertains to the Smart City housing project at Mullanpur near New Chandigarh in Mohali district. The project was floated in 2018-19. Tall claims were made about the plots on easy rates. Investors were assured possession within months after booking the plots. Huge advertisements were released in papers, channels and through other modes. Sources said that besides Chandigarh residents, people from Haryana, Himachal, Delhi and Punjab invested the money in the Smart City project.
Sources said that as the commercial office of the M/s GBP Pvt Ltd is situated in Sector 34, victims handed over cash, cheques to the accused and their staff members in Sector 34. GBP group had started housing projects at Kharar, Zirakpur and Peermuchalla. Many investors had mortgaged their properties to invest in the housing projects. Police said that the accused had given cheques to some of the investors when they failed to deliver the possession of properties but these cheques later bounced in the banks.
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Last month, four FIRs, including one related to cheating with at least 2,500 investors of Rs 1,500 crore, was registered against the fugitive owners of GBP Group, Sector 34.
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