Action against realtors too little, too late, claim investors
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 28 Sep: Dehradun Police claim to be tightening the noose on promoters of real estate firm Puspanjali Realms and Infratech Ltd. After several years since the investors in the Orchid Park project of the builders were cheated, the Police now have taken action against the builder by getting 41 bank accounts frozen. Transactions worth Rs 205 crores have been detected in the frozen accounts, but it seems to be a case of ‘too little, too late’, as there is little money left in the accounts. Most of the money in these accounts already stands withdrawn and diverted elsewhere. It may be recalled that Garhwal Post has been publishing reports of this scam on a regular basis while also pointing out lack of will in the Police and the Government to act tough against the realtors.
It is after Ajai Singh taking charge as SSP, Dehradun, that the Police have launched fresh actions against the realtors. Ashwini Mittal, father of Deepak Mittal, was arrested a a few days ago and this was followed up by arresting the freshly divorced wife of Rajpal Walia from Meerut. Now t more than 40 bank accounts have been frozen on the orders of the Police.
The Orchid Park Project was abandoned by the realtors in 2018. The investors had spent their lifetime savings to buy flats in the society, but the construction soon stopped. No possession was given to any of the investors despite promising it would be done by 2020. In 2020, some investors had complained of fraud against Pushpanjali Builders. Police had registered a case against group owners Deepak Mittal, his wife Rakhi Mittal, and Rajpal Walia at Dalanwala police station. Initially, the police had taken some action but soon lost interest. Due to lack of will to proceed against the realtors, most of the money transferred to the builders by the investors had already been withdrawn. Two promoters, Deepak Mittal and Rakhi Mittal, fled the country to Dubai, while Rajpal Walia continued to blame the Mittals for the fraud in spite of the fact that the investors claimed all the while that he was equally involved. The police seemed highly reluctant to act against him. The investors were forced to approach the Uttarakhand High Court, which last heard the matter some weeks ago and sought updated information from the police and the government about the action taken. The investors have also filed a case to settle the case with the state’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority, but no serious action has been taken in almost four years since the case was filed. The investors claim that RERA could have ordered taking the plot site of Orchid Park into possession so that the investors could get some of the invested money back, but the case is still pending.
Despite getting the accounts frozen, the investors are not expecting any direct benefit, since most of the frozen accounts have no money left in them. The police have also received information about the foreign accounts of the Mittal couple. According to the Police, a huge amount of money has also been transferred from these accounts to a builder from Dubai. The purchase of some properties has also come to light. According to the police, three accounts in Dubai and other places have been found in the name of Deepak Mittal and Rakhi Mittal, but the addresses in these accounts are different. In such a situation, investigation is being done through banks. Big transactions have taken place through these accounts in Dubai. It is also being claimed that the owners of the Pushpanjali Group have invested the money cheated from the investors in several other projects, including in films. In the investigation, so far, the names of a film producer, a CA and several white-collar builders have also emerged. The police are now trying to reach them. The producer is a resident of Mumbai and was in touch with the Mittals for many years. However, the extent of the role played by this producer-director is also being investigated.
According to SSP, Doon, many renowned builders were also in contact with Mittal. Some of these are locals and some are from outside. All of them have invested in places like Dehradun and Noida, etc. In this, the biggest amount has been sent from Mittal’s accounts. These builders have also been put on the radar by the police. Police claim that some big action is likely against some of these builders in the near future. The police now claim that action will also be taken to confiscate the properties of all these people under the Gangster Act and that efforts are underway to arrest Rajpal Walia and the Mittals, but it is a clear case of too little, too late.
It may also be pertinent to remind the readers that the same realtors were also the promoters of a project called Canyon Club and among the “associates” of these project included some IPS officers, some IAS officers and some educationists from some well known residential schools of Dehradun. This close connection that the realtors had with the IAS and IPS officers may be one reason why they were given such a long rope that they managed to divert all the money received from investors in Orchid Park project elsewhere.
