New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS): The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police has arrested two accused persons for taking Rs 1.90 crore from a complainant for the allotment of DDA plot and issuance of forged allotment letter.

Surprisingly, the accused person, P.S. Sharma, a dismissed gardner in the horticulture branch of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), misrepresented himself as working in the DDA in the post of Assistant Director. He allured the victim to get the plot in question in his name from the DDA by using his connections. He prepared forged documents allegedly issued by the DDA. Sharma was an UDC in the DDA and was suspended in 1999 due to his corrupt practices.

It is alleged that Sharma and another accuse person Rana Pratap Chauhan took Rs 1.90 crore from the complainant for allotment of a DDA plot in Krishna Nagar, Delhi, measuring 250 square yards. They showed the plot and told him that the purchase price of the plot is only Rs 22 lakh, but he had to spend about Rs 2 crore for the plot. As the market price of the plot was much higher at that time, the complainant agreed to spend the money.

"The accused persons took Rs 1.90 crore in cash from him and gave a fake allotment letter on behalf of DDA. After realising that the letter was fake, the complainant demanded his money back but the accused persons did not return his money, rather they gave him four cheques of Rs 80 lakh, which also got dishonoured," said O.P. Mishra, Joint CP, EOW.

During the course of investigation, all the documents were verified by the DDA and it was found that no such allotment letter or other documents were issued by the DDA.

Sharma and his associate Chauhan are involved in more than 13 similar cases of forgery. They used to target the victims, especially rich businessmen, who were searching for plots.

They got information about vacant DDA properties using Sharma's links. The accused persons used to meet the victims in the DDA office where Sharma had enough clout to impress the gullible plot buyers.