Odisha: Keshari Estates Director arrested for cheating flat buyers

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch today arrested Akshay Kumar Chaudhury, one of the directors of Keshari Estates Private Limited, for allegedly cheating 18 flat buyers of Rs 5.16 crore.

He has been apprehended under Sections 420, 406 and 120 (B) of the IPC and Section 6 of Odisha Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act, 2011. He was forwarded to the Court of Presiding Officer, Designated Court (Under OPID Act, 2011), Cuttack.

As per official sources, during the period 2008-2019, Keshari Estates Pvt. Ltd. launched 30 duplex housing units at Pokhariput in Bhubaneswar and collected booking/full amount from the prospective buyers by inducing them without obtaining the required approval from competent authorities.

After receiving the amount, directors/officials of the company did not undertake any construction for more than three years in the said project and later abandoned the project on the pretext of non-availability of approach road and other allied problems. Thereafter, during 2013, they launched another residential project in the name Keshrai Plaza at Jadupur Mouza and allotted duplexes/triplexes to some of the prospective buyers including those who had earlier booked in Pokhariput project.

An investigation by the agency revealed that though the company collected an amount of Rs 5,16,67,000 from 18 flat buyers between the year 2008 and 2019 to provide duplexes/triplexes at Pokhariput/Jadupur Mouza, it neither completed/handed over possessions of the duplexes/triplexes to the buyers as per agreements nor returned the amount to the investors.