Delhi Builder sells flat to four persons, dupes them of Rs1.2 crore
Police said when the buyers of the flats realised they were duped and confronted Bhati, he agreed to return their money with damages. He paid them post dated cheques, which later bounced for lack of funds. The buyers tried contacting Bhati but he stopped attending their calls , a police officer said.
A 37-year-old builder from south Delhi was arrested for allegedly cheating four flat buyers, including two brothers, to the tune of Rs1.2 crore by selling them four flats, which he had already sold to four different persons, the police said Wednesday.
Deputy commissioner of police (south) Vijay Kumar said the builder Yogesh Kumar Bhati, a resident of Sultanpur village near Mehrauli, was arrested Tuesday in two cases of cheating, forgery, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy. The cases were registered against him at the Fatehpur Beri police station last month on the complaint of four persons. They said Bhati had constructed a residential building with 12 flats for sale.
“Another buyer of Bhati’s flat, Ranjeet Kumar, has also filed a similar complaint against him. That complaint is still pending inquiry,” Kumar said.
DCP Kumar said Bhati used to sell flats using sale of deed documents and collect ₹30 lakh from each buyer. He allegedly used to get the sale deed registered in the name of the buyer and give him “possession of the flat”.
“Bhati used to trick buyers into handing over the keys of their locked flat in the name of completing pending construction work. He then used to sell the already sold flats to others and collect money from them,” Kumar said.
Police said when the buyers of the flats realised they were duped and confronted Bhati, he agreed to return their money with damages. He paid them post dated cheques, which later bounced for lack of funds. The buyers tried contacting Bhati but he stopped attending their calls , a police officer said.
DCP Kumar said the first case was registered on March 8 on the complaint of Sanjeet Kumar, who was duped of ₹28 lakh — he had bought a flat in August 2018. After the sale deed was registered, Sanjeet locked the flat and gave the keys to Bhati for carrying out some construction work.
On January 7 this year, the officer said Sanjeet went to the flat and found that some people were living there. The occupants claimed that they had purchased the flat from Bhati. When Sanjeet confronted Bhati, he agreed to return Sanjeet’s money with interest.
“Bhati paid Sanjeet ₹34 lakh by cheques that later bounced and Sanjeet filed a police complaint,” the officer said.
During the investigation, the police found that Bhati had cheated three other persons, including two brothers, in a similar manner. “We have arrested Bhati and are investigating the cases to ascertain if more people were duped by him,” the officer said.