Builder constructed temples to earn money, also booked for duping 455 real estate investors

Delhi-based builder, Manoj Bhardwaj, a director of Arun Dev Builders, is alleged to have conned nearly 455 depositors looking to invest in real estate. The accused is wanted in nine cases and has been arrested for duping investors in the National Capital Region and other places in North India,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Nupur Prasad confirmed.

Bhardwaj, who is in his early 50s, was arrested from his residence in Raju Park area of Neb Sarai in south Delhi. Apparently, He was in the real estate business for the last 22 years and lured people to purchase properties at throwaway prices. Interestingly, the builder had also constructed over 35 temples in various places to earn money from offerings and donations made by devotees.

He baited people by showing them his alleged projects in cities like Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttarakhand.

“Bhardwaj had put up his company’s boards in different cities in North India where he took his prospective customers to trick them into a purchase,” the police officer said adding that several complaints against the accused were lodged in police stations in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Dharuhera and other places and investigations are on in the matter.

Unitech shares slump over 2 per cent on compensation order

On a complaint filed by two home buyers—Diwakar Mishra and Vinay Kumar Singh—who had booked apartments in Unitech’s Noida luxury residential project in October 2010 and supposed to get possession by April 2012, NCDRC had asked the developer to offer possession of the flats on or before October 31, 2017 along with “compensation @ 12% per annum w.e.f. 16.04.2013 till the date on which possession is offered to them or till 31.10.2017, whichever is earlier.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) had ruled in 2015 that Unitech will have to compensate the complainants on simple interest basis as they had already paid 95% of the amount for the property and the construction is still far from complete. Since the real estate company had failed to comply with the NCDRC order, the Supreme Court had earlier asked it to deposit a sum of Rs. 5 crore by June 10, 2016.

Upon petition from the builder for extension of time, the SC has now ruled that, “the sum of Rs. 5 crore be deposited with UCO Bank by August 5, 2016 failing which, the respondents are at liberty to move an application for contempt of this Court and in that event, the Directors of the petitioner-company may be sent to custody,” Justice Dipak Misra and C Nagappan said in their order.

The real estate firm Unitech is under the lens for extreme delay in completion of a high-end residential project Burgundy which was launched on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway near New Delhi.

After the Chinese, Japanese now vying Indian realty via private equity

Subsequent to Centre’s nod to 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the real estate industry, it was only a matter of time before foreign developers made big investment announcements.
According to a report by realty research & consultancy firm JLL India, developers and private equity investors from the Land of the Rising Sun are looking to enter Indian property market. The Japanese could invest at least USD 2 billion in residential as well as industrial projects over the next three years. “India is emerging as a major investment destination for Chinese and Japanese developers,” the report stated.
Private equity investors from these two countries are also looking at entering India’s real estate sector; China’s biggest developer Dalian Wanda Group has already signed an MoU with Haryana government earlier this year to develop Wanda Industrial New City with an investment of USD 10 billion, spread out over the next decade. More developers from China as well as Japan are expected to penetrate domestic real estate soon.
“Indian realty markets are likely to see an inflow of at least USD 2 billion in investments from Japan over the next three years as Japanese developers are keen to explore strategic partnerships by way of joint ventures with Indian builders; they are predominantly interested in industrial projects,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head , JLL India.
62 per cent of the respondents of a RICS-JLL survey conducted in January this year felt that institutions from Japan and China could knock at the doors of the Indian real estate market in 2016.