BENGALURU: A construction firm has allegedly cheated about 14,000 customers of their money amounting to `1,500 crore, by not delivering them the plots and flats they had paid for.
At a press meet organised by Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, P Krishnegowda, president of the body, made these allegations against the firm, TGS Constructions, and called for the Centre to transfer the case to the CBI. Four purported victims spoke about how they had been duped at the conference.Shashikala Bhat, a nurse, said she had paid `11,55,000 to the firm for a plot of land which has not been allotted to her yet. Lakshman Swamy said he had invested `13.5 lakh for a site in March 2015, which the firm had promised to give him after a year, but he is yet to get the site.
Many buyers staged a protest outside the firm’s office at HSR Layout on Friday. A police official at Madivala Police Station said over 500 cases had been lodged against the firm at the station and over 100 people were coming in every day citing their grievances against the firm. The firm owner Sachin Nayak was in police custody for a week and was released on Sunday on bail, the official said.
T P Mahesh, the lawyer who is advising the victims on the course of legal action, said the firm was selling plots and flats which they themselves had taken on rent, with an agreement to buy it after a certain period. He said currently all offices of the firm were closed and all their numbers switched off.