Delayed flat possession: 15th FIR registered against Panchkula builder

In a fifteenth such case against him, the director of Ess Vee Apartments, Sector 20, has been booked for cheating another buyer of one of the flats.

The accused, Vinod Bagai, director, Samar Estate Private Limited, which is building the multi-storey apartment project, has been booked under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector 20 police station.

The complainant, Major Pinto Pandit, a retired army man and a resident of AWHO, Mansa Devi Complex (MDC), Sector 4, told the police that in April 2011, he and his wife, Sangeeta Pandit, booked a 3-BHK flat costing ₹67 lakh and paid ₹55.8 lakh for it. The flat buyer agreement was executed on May 2, 2011 and the builder assured to complete the project and deliver the possession of flat within two years, but failed to do so.

‘MISAPPROPRIATED COLLECTED FUNDS’

“The project promoters have stopped constructions for the past four years, citing financial crisis,” said Pandit, adding that he also filed a complaint with the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA).

“As per the directions of the authority, the builder uploaded the information about the allotment and funds collected from the allottees on the website, which showed that Bagai and other promoters of Samar Estate Private Limited had misappropriated and diverted funds collected from the allottees,” Pandit alleged.

“The promoters have given long-term loan of ₹7.84 crore, and short-term loan of ₹260 crore to themselves and their 25 other shell companies from the funds collected from the buyers. The promoters have also booked about 50 flats in the names of their family members and shell companies, besides 25 in the name of M/S SRV Investments of which Bagai is a director,” Pandit alleged.

“In 2014, Bagai contested the legislative assembly elections from Panchkula district by declaring that he and his wife took a loan of ₹6.4 crore from Samar Estate Pvt Ltd and ₹89 lakh from Ess Vee Contractors,” the complainant alleged.

IN THE SOUP

In August, Bagai was booked on a similar complaint by a Dubai-based woman, who had deposited ₹66 lakh on the assurance from the accused that the project will be completed within three years.

Bagai was also booked on the complaint of an air force official of duping him of ₹1.5 crore, and then later in two other cases for duping a retired textile engineer from Dhakoli and a woman from Sector 26 in the same project among others.