Developer arrested for fraudulently getting property allocations from HSVP

A team of Haryana state vigilance bureau arrested a developer on Saturday night for allegedly getting himself allocated two shops-cum-offices in Sector 23 in connivance with Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) authorities in June 2018, at a rate that was prevalent in 1997, officials said on Monday.

He has been remanded in judicial custody on Sunday, officials said.

State vigilance bureau (SVB) officers said the HSVP, or the erstwhile Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), had allotted the two SCOs to a firm having a registered address of Barakhamba Road, Delhi, in 1997.

However, the allotments were cancelled in 1998 after the postal department returned the allocation letters to HUDA stating that no such firm existed at the given address on which they had sent the documents, vigilance officers said.

A senior vigilance officer said the suspect, Vasisht Kumar Goyal (60), got a general power of attorney, on behalf of the firm, prepared in his name from Mahendergarh in 2010 and filed a case in the Punjab and Haryana high court to get the allocated SCOs.

“Goyal finally managed to get the allocation documents of the SCOs, now worth crores of rupees, in his name in June 2018 in connivance with HSVP officials, including the then estate officer posted in Gurugram. Senior authorities of the HSVP got to know about the sudden withdrawal of the case after which they inquired internally and got to know that Goyal was allocated the said properties at a rate that was prevalent in 1997,” he said.

Officers said following this development, the state vigilance bureau launched an inquiry in 2019 and on the basis of the evidences collected, an FIR under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, banker, merchant or agent), 418 (cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to person whose interest offender is bound to protect), 420 (cheating), 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code was registered against Goyal, director of the private firm, HSVP estate officer and other unidentified government officials on November 28 this year.

As per the vigilance officials, Goyal was called to the vigilance bureau police station for quizzing on Saturday but was later arrested.

Officials said this was the first ever arrest made in the case until now. They said during the inquiry, some more evidence of forged property allocations have come to the fore and investigations into those are ongoing.

“We are probing if he was also involved in getting other HUDA properties, where the beneficiary had died or was unable to pay, fraudulently allocated in his name. This would be from a time when HUDA used to carry out manual and random allocation of properties ,” a senior vigilance officer said, asking not to be named.

He said more arrests in the case, including those of government officials, will follow as per the evidence that surfaces during investigation.

Chander Mohan, SVB superintendent of police (Gurugram range), said presently, the irregularities made were to the tune of ₹20 crore. “However, further investigations are ongoing in the case. There is connivance of government officials in these irregularities,” he said.

Mohan said Goyal was arrested after the Haryana government gave its nod for registering an FIR in the case.

Attempts were made to contact HSVP administrator Jaspreet Kaur but she didn’t respond to calls and messages seeking her comment on the matter. No representative of the arrested suspect or the private firm director could be contacted for a comment on the matter.