BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch arrested the managing director of M/S Basera Designs Pvt Ltd, Manoj Pattnaik, for allegedly cheating several flat buyers to the tune of Rs 1.72 crore.One of the victims, Jyoti Shankar Panda, had lodged a complaint with EOW two years back alleging the officials of the real estate firm had executed an agreement to provide him a 3-BHK flat at Sijua in the state capital under the project Basera Fresco.
The complainant was assured possession of the flat by June, 2017. However, the real estate firm officials neither provided him the flat nor refunded the advance payment he had made during the agreement. During investigation, the EOW officers ascertained that Pattnaik, his wife and director of Basera Designs Suchitra Bisoi, and other officials of the real estate firm cheated many potential flat buyers. Many of the investors availed loans from Allahabad Bank, United Bank and other banks to purchase the flats.
After a substantial amount of loan was disbursed to Basera Designs on execution of tripartite agreements between the officials of the firm, the victims and the banks, Pattnaik and other accused shut down their office at Palasuni and fled.