‘Duped’ with CM’s forged letter, fake RERA approvals, Gurugram residents lodge FIRs against real-estate developers, Sohna tehsildar and patwari; probe on

The matter dates back to 2020-2021 when the accused allegedly started publicising these parcels of land in the name of developing farmhouses/ residential colonies.

The complainants in the two FIRs, Survina Bhalla (80) and Amit Banga (58), alleged that they were duped by the accused, who showed them forged letters of “Hon’ble Haryana CM, forged approvals by the Town and Country Planning Department and the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA)”. The complainants alleged that “the accused appeared very wealthy, always used to come in Mercedes cars with PSO [Personal Security Officer], and mostly used to call on WhatsApp, stating they have meetings with ministers/ senior officials”.

The FIRs have been registered against real-estate developer company M/s Goldkist Developers Pvt Ltd, its director Raj Bala and her husband Hari Das Gupta, its other director Braham Parkash Aggarwal, tehsildar Shikha Garg, patwari Asgar and others, including Balwan Singh and Rajesh Kumar Gupta.

The two FIRs, No. 133 and 134, were registered on Thursday at Gurugram’s DLF-II police station, following the orders by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Gurugram) Ramesh Chander, and are currently under investigation.

“Orders were received from the Hon’ble ACJM’s court on July 8, and we registered FIRs. Further investigation is going on,” one of the investigating police officers said.

According to both FIRs, which contents are similar, the complainants alleged that they were shown parcels of land for constructing farmhouses/ houses by the accused, who claimed to have got all the requisite approvals of “Haryana’s Director (Town and Country Planning), RERA, and Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana”.

While Bhalla alleged that she “paid Rs 1.30 crore initially, spent over Rs 2 crore on levelling the land and construction, but the accused subsequently demanded another Rs 5 crore and then Rs 25 crore for getting her all the requisite approvals”. Banga alleged that he had paid Rs 2.94 crore to the accused.

The complainants alleged that it was only after they had made the payments and got the sale deeds registered in their names, which were signed by the tehsildar and the patwari, that they started construction work on their respective parcels of land. However, they were left shocked when, in July 2021, officials of the District Town Planner (Enforcement) came to their sites and started demolishing their structures with JCB machines.

After the registry of the land, for which he also took possession and constructed the boundary walls, Banga said in his complaint, which also forms part of the FIR, “I started making plans for our dream house to be built and also engaged an architect and construction company for the same. However, on July 6, 2021, officials of the District Town Planner (Enforcement) came to the project with JCBs and demolished the boundary walls of all the farm lands. When we tried to stop the government authorities, we were told by them [officials] that the accused persons did not have any approvals from the DTCP or the RERA and that we had been cheated of our hard-earned money. When I showed the printed Brochures, papers and FAQ to the enforcement authorities, they informed me that all these documents were forged and fabricated, and we became victims of a planned cheating scheme floated by the accused persons in conspiracy with each other.”

When the complainants approached the tehsildar and patwari, both told them that they registered the sale deeds as per the norms. However, the complainants allege that both revenue department officials acted in connivance with the other accused persons.