Manesar couple dupe woman of 3.75cr in bogus land deal, police say probe on

Gurugram: A husband and wife were booked on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy after they allegedly duped a woman of 3.75 crore that she had received from the Haryana government as compensation for her land that was acquired in 2011, police said on Friday.

Police identified the victim woman as Sunita Yadav (55), a resident of village Kukrola in Manesar, and said she received the money from the government in multiple transactions in 2020 and 2021.

Police identified the accused couple as Sandeep Yadav and Manju Rani, and said they were in their early 40s.

They said the couple who duped Yadav got to know about her good fortune from Yadav’s son-in-law and devised a plan to cheat her of the money.

They approached her with an offer to sell their 1,800 square metre plot in Sector 6, IMT Manesar, in February 2021.

Police said the couple showed her documents that declared the plot as theirs and said they were selling it only because they needed money urgently.

Police said the couple also assured the woman that there was no bank loan on the plot. But after the bogus sale went through, it came to fore that the couple had allegedly taken a loan of 9 crore from various banks after mortgaging the plot.

In her complaint to the police, Yadav alleged her husband died of a cardiac arrest on January 8, 2022, after realising that they had been duped of their life’s savings and the couple could not be traced.

As per the FIR, Yadav said she transferred 2 crore to the couple’s bank account and handed over 1.75 crore in cash in March 2021.

She alleged that after she made the payment, the couple signed an agreement with her on March 9, 2021, for transferring the land but when she read the agreement a few days later, she realised that the couple had got her to sign a paper that only stated that they were “taking a loan of 2 crore from her”.

Yadav also claimed that the couple had convinced her to pay them 1.75 crore in cash and that amount was not mentioned in the agreement.

She alleged that after she objected, the couple got her to sign a new agreement and assured her that they would get the registry done in her name on December 24, 2021.

However, they never reached the registry office on the appointed date after which she started gathering information from government offices and realised that she had been duped.

On Thursday night, based on Yadav’s complaint, an FIR was registered against the couple under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code at the IMT Manesar police station, said police.

Inspector Subhash Chand, station house officer, IMT Manesar police station, said prima facie, the allegations against the couple was found to be true. “We had contacted a private bank and got to know that a company had taken a loan of 9.5 crore on the said plot. The company directors are the couple who duped Yadav,” he said, adding that the company is located in IMT Manesar.