Agencies

Jammu, March 06:

Three persons, including a woman, were on Saturday booked by the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police for allegedly duping a man of Rs 1.92 crore on the pretext of selling him a house in a posh area here, officials said.

The crime branch registered a criminal case against Rakesh Kumar Gupta, Ravinder Gupta and Champa Devi for their involvement in duping the man of Rs 1.92 crore by hatching a criminal conspiracy and inducing him for entering into a false agreement to sell a residential house constructed in one kanal plot of land in the posh Gandhi Nagar area, they said.

A written complaint lodged by Sardari Lal Gupta alleged that two persons — Rakesh and Ravinder — introduced him to Champa Devi who intended to sell her house, the officials said.

The complainant expressed his willingness to purchase the house for Rs 1,92,00,000 and the accused assured Lal that the sale deed would be executed after getting the full payment, they said.

The accused persons received token money of Rs 45 lakh, which is mentioned on the agreement to sell the house, and also the balance money Rs 1,47,00,000, the officials said.

In the meantime, Lal fell ill and remained admitted to a hospital for a long period of time. When he recovered and asked the accused to execute the sale deed of the house, they made excuses on one pretext or other, the officials said.

Further, the complainant came to know that the accused persons have transferred the said property to other persons in order to deprive the complainant of the ownership of the said house. Thus, the accused persons in league with another person have cheated the complainant, they said.

On receipt of the complaint, a preliminary verification was initiated by the crime branch Jammu and allegations levelled against the accused have been substantiated, the officials said.

Thus the omissions and commissions, on the part of the accused, prima facie constitute offences and a formal case was registered by the crime branch against them for in-depth investigation, they said.