Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of state Crime Branch has initiated probe into a multi-crore real estate fraud in the city. The EOW registered a case against the accused directors of the sham real estate firm following the initial investigations in the case detecting prima facie cheating of around Rs 5 crore by the firm.
As per sources, the alleged firm Keshari Estates Pvt. Ltd, located near Keshari Talkies at Kharavela Nagar issued advertisements about the construction of 30 duplex houses measuring 2,000 sq ft each on a plot at Pokhariput area under Airfield police limits in 2008. The company allegedly received crores as advance booking amount or even got full payment for the houses between 2008 and 2010.
However, the firm after receiving the payments started delaying the construction under various pretexts. Subsequently, the firm has cancelled the project by claiming that the Bhubaneswar Development Authority denied approval to the project due to the non-availability of the approach road to its plot at Pokhariput.
In 2013, the firm again announced about the re-launching of another housing project with 44 duplexes and triplexes on a plot at Jadupur Mauja under Khandagiri police limits. The buyers finding no other way again invested in the project after the real estate company showed the BDA approval letter for the particular project this time.
However, the firm neither completed the project nor returned the deposits to the customers despite the executing sale deeds in the name of the victims. The EOW sleuths during the initial probe found that the company has collected Rs 5, 16, 67,000 from 18 prospective buyers during the period 2008 to 2019. Many other victims intending to buy houses in the project have also reportedly given several crores to the firm during the above period. The EOW has registered the case against the four directors of the company.
