Samar Estate fraud case: 2 years after first FIR, principal accused held at his residence, granted bail

Almost two years after the primary FIR was registered within the Samar Estate fraud case, prime accused Vinod Bagai was arrested from his Panchkula residence, however granted bail on medical grounds Thursday. The accused’s spouse Sunita Bagai and relative Virender Bagai had been arrested on February 19 and despatched to judicial custody.
The case got here to gentle when the primary FIR was registered on July 31, 2019. As many as 18 FIRs have since been filed within the case towards the accused, spanning over multiple and a half years, on the Sector 20 police station of Panchkula.
The arrests got here quickly after the Punjab and Haryana High Court had, final November, sought a reply from the Panchkula SP on an software moved by a warfare disabled soldier towards prime accused Vinod Bagai, director of Samar Estate, in his housing venture ESS Vee Apartments for passing instructions to police division for initiating motion and arrest all of the three accused.
History of the corporate
Between 1998 and 2003, the corporate accomplished 11 initiatives as builders. It was in 2005-06 when the three administrators launched their new venture, ‘ESS VEE Apartments’, and the current accused with the opposite co-accused began reserving flats within the venture. Bookings have been taken between 2005-06 to 2013-14 with assurances that possession of flats shall be delivered inside three years.
Over 400 folks booked and await possession of those 3BHK flats within the Ess Vee Society of Panchkula. FIRs by victims allege a complete fraud of greater than Rs 300 crore within the matter. Allegations of fraud by misappropriating and diverting funds collected from allottees have additionally been leveled towards the accused.
All FIRs state that the victims had been lured by a number of commercials made by accused Vinod Bagai and two others to spend money on a 3 BHK at a value of Rs 67.7 lakh in Project ESS VEE Apartments being inbuilt Panchkula Sector 20, with the promise of possession inside three years in 2011. Having waited a number of years, an affiliation of the aggrieved began submitting FIRs in 2019.
Case in different courts
The complainants had first moved the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) for possession of the flats or refunds with curiosity. HRERA had directed that the accused to present possession in three phases — first section upto December 2018, second section upto March 2019 and third section upto December 2019.
When the accused didn’t observe, HRERA, in an order dated January 6 this yr, had directed the accused to current restoration, however the orders weren’t complied with.
It was in the course of the HRERA proceedings {that a} forensic audit carried out by an investigating company had proven gross monetary irregularities amounting to misappropriation of buyers’ cash and forgery within the account books of the Samar Estate firm.
Complainants have alleged: “The accused in connivance with the other co-accused has formed shell companies to fraud the money given by the investors. They formed a shell/shadow company named SRV Investments and showed about 39 flats booked in the name of said SRV.”
Delay in arrest
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was fashioned in late August by the then DCP Deepak Gahlawat with the go-ahead of CP Saurabh Singh, to look into the case. It had not submitted even a single report as of November 27 final yr, regardless of the mounting variety of FIRs and excessive variety of victims within the case.

The inaction by Panchkula police regardless of the formation of an SIT to particularly look into the FIRs towards the accused had been the prime trigger that led Major Pinto Pandit (retd), a warfare disabled solider and one among the many 400 individuals who await possession, to maneuver courtroom. The High Court had on November 24 directed the Panchkula SP to file a private affidavit on standing of the matter inside a month.
The matter is now listed within the Punjab and Haryana High Court for April 7, by when the police division is required to submit its ‘Action Taken Report’ towards all of the accused.

“The police got into action only when the complainants approached High Court. The matter is still pending in High Court with regard to inaction of police department against all the accused,” stated a press release by the ESS VEE Apartments Home Buyers Association.
Both HRERA and State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission have prior to now issued non-bailable warrants towards Bagai attributable to non-compliance of orders by respective courts. The orders have been to be carried out by an inspector-level officer of the Panchkula police.