MP builder arrested from Mumbai for duping home buyers

A builder was arrested for allegedly duping scores of investors to the tune of several hundred crore in a realty project in Indore, police said today.

Real estate developer Ashish Das (48), who was absconding for the last five months and carried a reward of Rs 20,000 on his head, was arrested yesterday from a hotel in Mumbai's Juhu area, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Harinarayanchari Mishra said.

Police was on the lookout for Das in seven cases registered against him at Vijay Nagar, Lasudiya and Banganga police stations for allegedly cheating people who had purchased plots and flats in Pinnacle Dreams real estate project here, Mishra said.

The cumulative value of these transactions would be in the range of Rs 1,000 crore, police said.

"Das is the developer of the Pinnacle Dreams project of the city. In some cases, he registered one property in the name of two buyers after taking money from both of them. It is suspected that Das duped hundreds of buyers and investors," the DIG said.

Das, a resident of Ujjain, was a tax adviser who forayed into the real estate business a few years ago, he said.

Mishra said that Das was absconding for the last five months and was hiding in Delhi, Bengaluru, Goa, Chandigarh and Mumbai during this period.

He informed that Pushpendra Badera, an associate of Das, was also wanted in this case.