NEW DELHI: A 40-year-old ‘conwoman’ was arrested for allegedly cheating several people in lieu of providing a re-sale of flats in a housing project at Sonipat in Haryana based on forged and fabricated documents, an officer said on Thursday.
The accused, identified as Rashmi Rathi, a resident of Bulandshahr in UP, created shell companies and used them to pay and receive money from buyers/sellers and subsequently issue sham NOCs.
According to the officer, a case was registered where the complainant alleged that on January 1, 2021, she had purchased a flat at Max Heights Dream Homes, Kundli, Sector-61, Sonipat in Haryana and made the payment through RTGS. The directors of Max Heights had given possession and registered the flat in her name. Again, she wanted to buy a flat in the society for Rs 17,00,000.
The payment was given to Rashmi on the directions of Arun Rathi and Prateek Rathi at Rohini Sector-3. A total of Rs 12 lakh was given in cash and Rs 5 lakh was transferred through RTGS. She further alleged that the keys of the flats were also handed over to her after making the payments. But the directors of the company denied the receipt of payments and refused to transfer the ownership rights in her name through official registration.
“She also alleged that Rashmi has cheated her and many other people with similar modus operandi. She has collected over Rs five crores from the victims by using fake and fabricated documents and misappropriated the same, Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Surendra Choudhary said.
He said that during the investigation, actual allottees of the flats were examined and they stated that they had booked flats in the project which was developed by Maxheight Promoters Private Limited.
The company issued allotment letters against the flats and they never told Rashmi to sell their flats and have original documents. Rashmi sold their flats based on forged and fabricated documents and collected more than Rs five crores in her two bank accounts and the funds were either siphoned off through cash withdrawal or transferred to other accounts, the officer said. Rashmi was absconding and later apprehended from Bulandshahr on Monday.
The police officer said that Rashmi was the person involved in client service and was fully versed with the details of the project. Being the office coordinator, she was overseeing the routine work of the company and was in touch with the owners of the flats for recovery of due payments and other dues, the DCP said, adding that she misused her position as the office coordinator and in association with property dealers of the area, duped victims.
The accused woman made several smaller transactions from her shell companies and from her own account as well as from the account of her sister in order to settle the subledgers of different flats and later sold flats on the basis of forged and fabricated documents and collected over Rs five crore.