Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhubaneswar has arrested one Manoj Pattnaik, MD of M/s Basera Designs (P) Ltd on Satuday on charges of cheating his customers to the tune of Rs 1.72 crore in lieu of providing them flats in Bhubaneswar.
The accused was booked in a case registered by the EOW in February 6, 2020, under Sections 420/406/467/468/471/120-B of the IPC and Section 6 of OPID Act. He will be produced before the Designated Court under OPID Act in Cutttack on Sunday.
According to the EOW, this case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by one Jyoti Shankar Panda against Pattnaik and his company alleging that he was cheated of Rs.1,15 crore on the pretext of getting flats in a project named ‘Basera Fresco’ at Sijua in Bhubaneswar.
“It has been ascertained during investigation that complainant Jyoti Sankar Panda and his brother Subha Shankar Panda booked a 3BHK flat in ‘Basera Fresco’ for Rs 41.50 lakh. An ‘Agreement for Acquisition of Ownership in Apartment’ was executed on April 25, 2016 in the presence of Manoj Pattnaik and Flat No. 306 was allotted to the complainant with a condition that the flat would be handed over on June 30, 2017,” the EOW stated.
Allahbad Bank sanctioned a housing loan of Rs 32 lakh in favour of Panda for this purpose and a tripartite agreement was signed between him, the bank and the realtor.
“The Bank released Rs18.50 lakh as DD which was credited to the Account of “Basera Designs Pvt. Ltd.” Subsequently, the builder by entering into a conspiracy with other accused neither handed over the flat to Panda nor returned the money. Apart from this, the accused persons did not renew the approval of BDA which should have been done after three years of approval,” the EOW added.
The accused persons closed down their office here at Palasuni and went untraceable after cheating a number of investors. EOW’s investigation revealed that Pattnaik, his wife and another director of the company cheated many other investors in Basera Fresco at Sijua, to the tune of Rs 1.72 crore (approximately).
They cheated many more in projects like – “Basera Brindaban”, “Basera Impression Plus”, “Basera Harmony”, “Basera Angan”, etc. The EOW, in 2018, had registered another case against Pattnaik and the others in a similar matter.
“The accused is also involved in a case registered by Chandrasekharpur police in 2020. Earlier, another accused in this case has already been arrested. Many incriminating documents relating to the fraud including some forged ones have been seized. Further investigation in on,” the EOW stated.
