A huge housing scam
has been unearthed in Noida where a developer sold apartments to multiple
buyers and banks provided housnig loans to 2 or more buyers for the same house.
Mr. Shiv Kala Charms
has allegedly ripped off more than 400 people, defrauding them of amounts
ranging from Rs. 25 lakh to Rs. 35lakh, and is facing multiple lawsuits.
Banks like Axis Bank,
Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and Syndicate Bank and housing finance
companies (HFCs) such as HDFC, LIC Housing Finance Limited (LIC HFL ), Dewan
Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL), Punjab National Bank Housing
Finance (PNB HFL) and Indiabulls are among the firms whose diligence is now in
question.
Following the
complaints, inquiries were initiated by the Reserve Bank (RBI) and Gautam Buddh
Nagar district magistrate.
The scam first came
to light on August 31, 2011 when HDFC Bank published a list of 78 apartments in
Shiv Kala Charms, stating these were legally mortgaged to the bank. Homebuyers
were shocked to find their apartment numbers on the list.
Other financial
institutions that had approved loans for the same flats came out with their own
lists - revealing multiple duplicate sales & loans.
Dwarka resident Mr.
Avneesh Kaushik, 38, who had bought apartment 2093 on the 9th floor of the under-construction tower- 2 in
2008 with a housing loan from Syndicate Bank, has filed a case against the
developer with the Delhi Police economic offences wing.
The software
consultant was shocked to find out that the developer had sold his apartment to
another buyer who was granted finance by LIC HFL.
If that was not bad
enough, the financiers have initiated recovery proceedings against homebuyers
defaulting on EMIs and cases of cheques bouncing have been registered against
those left with no means to repay their loans.
At the same time, no
action has been taken against the developer or
/ any bank official, though
litigations are on.
In October-end, the
Allahabad high court had directed the Noida SSP to expedite the investigation.
The report of the
National Housing Bank (NHB), looking into the matter on the RBI’s instructions,
reveals that banks financed manyl “non-existing flats” and identifies many
cases where more than one mortgage was granted over a single flat.
The March 2012 report
of the Gautam Buddh Nagar CDO is just as damning. It shows “imaginary”
apartments and says a fraud of this magnitude is not possible without the
connivance of bank officials and office-bearers of the society.
All the financial
institutions concerned declined to comment, citing ongoing legal processes.
Mr. Shiv Kala Charms
is part of a cooperative society, Golf Course Sahkari Awas Samiti Ltd, that was
formed in 2004. Kaushik’s FIR names the builders as Mahim Mittal, Ranjeeta
Mittal, Asit Mittal, Navita Mittal and Sandeep Gupta. Repeated requests to them
for comment went unanswered.
Src: Mr. Jeevan
Prakash Sharma, Hindustan Times
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