BENGALURU: A builder who allegedly duped 78 families of retired army personnel and army widows of Rs 3.61 crore was arrested on Saturday by the Cubbon Park police and produced in front of the magistrate. The court ordered MB Basavaraj, Managing Director of Nandi Builders India Pvt Ltd, to return a sum of at least Rs 1 crore to the victims within a month.
It took the police 11 months to execute an arrest warrant, which was issued by a court last December, in the case. The police repeatedly claimed that Basavaraj was not to be found while the victims kept saying that they had spotted him around. Finally, the vice president of the Army Housing Co-operative Society, Major R Ramesh forced them into action on Saturday.
After confirming that Basavaraj was present at his current office on Bellary Road, Major Ramesh went in person to meet the Additional Commissioner of Police (West) B K Singh and requested him to ensure his arrest after producing the arrest warrant and other documents to show the cheating case. The top cop called up Cubbon Park police station and ordered them to execute the warrant.
Police personnel in plainclothes then arrested Basavaraj from his office. “Apart from furnishing `1 crore within a month, the con man has also been asked to produce someone in court on Monday who would be willing to provide `25 lakh as surety on his behalf,” Ramesh said.
Money paid for new ‘Soldiers Port Layout’ in Jigani
It has been 12 years since Ramesh and 77 other families invested sums ranging between `1 lakh to `8 lakh through their society for plots measuring 30x40, 40x60 and 60x80 sq ft at a new ‘Soldiers Port Layout’ to be created at Rajpura village in Jigani. Basavaraj bought 3 acres and 12 guntas of agricultural land in his own name for `1.5 crore.
“He fooled the army personnel by stating that since it was an agricultural land, it could not be bought in the name of the Society,” Ramesh added. He asked the members to pay an additional `1.6 crore to buy more land. This prompted many to pull out of the project, leaving only the gullible 78 families to continue investing with him. No Layout was formed as the agricultural land was not converted.
As no progress was taking place, the Society asked for a refund in 2009. Basavaraj then produced cheques, which bounced. Since then the matter has been pursued by the victims in the courts.
On July 9 last year, a sessions court ordered him to pay `3.18 crore to the victims. He failed to do so and an arrest warrant was issued in December but was never executed by the police.