Shalimar Mall owner held for duping resident

Indian Express: Chandigarh: Sunday, March 16, 2014.

Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Chandigarh Police on Friday night arrested R K Aggarwal, Chief Managing Director (CMD) of the Shalimar Mega Mall Private Limited, Sector 5 Panchkula, for allegedly duping a resident of Rs 30 crore. Aggarwal was booked under Section 420 (Cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and was remanded in a two-day police custody by a local court.

Kewal Garg, complainant in the case said, “I was a partner in the project of the mall. Aggarwal had initially taken Rs 2.5 crore from me as an investment in the project in 2004. He kept taking money time and again for the last many years. In all I have invested around Rs 10 crore which would now be Rs 30-40 crore after interest. However, not a single penny has been credited in my account in the last decade.”

Garg had given a complaint to the Inspector General of Police about three months back. The case was transferred to EOW and FIR was registered on Wednesday. Aggarwal was arrested from Sector 8 while he was out for his evening walk late on Friday.

The complainant also alleged that Aggarwal had auctioned all the showrooms to the residents and he kept the entire amount with him. “As per the complaint, the accused was not authorised to auction the showrooms,” said the investigating officer, sub-inspector Ajinder Singh.

As soon as the news of Aggarwal’s arrest spread, many residents whom he had allegedly duped thronged the EOW of the Chandigarh Police in Sector 17.

Praveen Tantia, an investor said, “After we were not being given the possession of our showroom, we sought information from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) through RTI Act. As per the RTI reply, Aggarwal had not paid property tax to the tune of Rs 2.87 crore due to which HUDA had not given him a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to auction the showrooms.” Tantia added that the accused has duped 110 people who have now formed an association against him.

Pankaj, a resident of Sector 11 Panchkula said, “I had taken a shop in the mall in 2004. Till date I did not get the possession of the showroom. I invested Rs 50 lakh.” Similar was the case with a retired government School teacher, Veeran Ahuja, “I spent the entire savings of my life for buying a showroom for my son to expand his business.”