Duped’: 200 investors protest after builder locks office, ‘goes missing’ in Derabassi

The protesters on Thursday gathered outside the Athens Project in Derabassi, which was being developed by Gupta Brothers and Promoters, and staged a dharna.

AT LEAST 200 investors gathered at the site of a housing project in Mohali’s Derabassi on Thursday and launched a vociferous protest after they found that the builder’s office was locked and the staff missing. The protesters said that they had been duped and the builder of the project had fled after taking their hard-earned money.

The protesters on Thursday gathered outside the Athens Project in Derabassi, which was being developed by Gupta Brothers and Promoters, and staged a dharna. The agitators alleged that they had invested their life’s savings to buy a house only to find that the builder had duped them and fled with their money.

The protesters claimed that more than 4500 people had invested in the projects being developed by the Gupta Brothers and Promoters Group in Kharar, Zirakpur, Derabassi. They also alleged that the owners of Gupta Builders Private Limited Group had taken loans on under-construction buildings and in most of the projects, beneficiaries never got possession of their properties.

Amit Gupta, one of the investors, said that he had met one of the owners of the Gupta Brothers and Promoters Group, Raman Gupta, who had assured him that the company was in the process of sorting out their issues and would address all concerns of investors by September 30. Gupta Brothers and Promoters was involved in developing seven projects, which include commercial as well as housing projects.
On Thursday, some investors had also gathered outside the office of the group in Zirakpur and found that the office there was locked too.

Gupta Brothers and Promoters under scanner

At least three FIRs in connection with property frauds have been registered against the owners of Gupta Brothers and Promoters Group in Chandigarh. In one of the cases, the owners have managed to get interim protection from a local court, but they are yet to join the police investigations. Two of the FIRs were registered with the Economic Offence Wing (EOW), UT police, with a third case being filed in Sector 34 police station. The Gupta Brothers and Promoters Group has its registered commercial office in Sector 34, Chandigarh.

SP (city, EOW) Ketan Bansal, said, “We have three cases registered against Gupta Brothers and Promoters Group in Chandigarh. They are wanted in our cases.”

The booked owners of Gupta Brothers and Promoters Group were identified by the police as Pardeep Kumar Gupta, Satish Kumar Gupta, Anupam Gupta, and others. Sources said besides the three FIRs against the builders, a few complaints are also pending against them at Sector 34 police station. Sources added that as the group had its registered office in Sector 34, investors, and customers of the builders often filed their complaints with the area police station, PS 34. The latest FIR against the builder brothers was registered on August 31 by one Anoop Kumar of Sector 15, who accused them of committing a fraud of Rs 47.50 lakh on the pretext of providing a residential plot to him.

Source: Read Full Article