BJP MLA, wife booked for alleged real estate fraud

New Delhi, Jan 6: The economic offences wing of the Delhi Police has registered an FIR against BJP's Kanpur (Dehat) MLA Vinod Katiyar and his wife for alleged cheating, criminal breach of trust and duping of real estate customers of crores of rupees, officials said Saturday.

Katiyar is also a director of the AVP Buildetch, Noida, they said.

According to the complaint, the company launched a housing project in Noida's sector 77 for which land was acquired. Advertisements were put out and buyers approached the company to book flats, a senior police officer said.

The buyers submitted 10 per cent of the total amount and booked the flats. The agreement was that they will be handed over the flats by March 2014, he said. But the flats were not handed over in time, he added.

The prices of the flats ranged from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs 1 crore and the company even took almost 90 per cent of the money from most of the buyers, without even completing the work, the officer said.

The complainant also alleged that the money invested by the buyers was invested in other projects of the company, he said.

The FIR was filed on January 3 against AVP Buildtech and its directors Vinod Katiyar, his wife Pramila Singh, Nathu Singh and Sanjeev Abrol at EoW Delhi after a complaint by various buyers was sent to the department's senior officials in November, police said.

The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint file by woman buyer.