ED Seizes Bank Deposits, Luxury Cars In Raids Against Real Estate Firms Orris Infra, Three C Shelters

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NEW DELHI: Deposits worth more than Rs 31 crore and luxury cars have been seized in raids against two NCR-based real estate groups who are alleged to have duped homebuyers to the tune of Rs 500 crore, the ED said Tuesday. The searches were launched on November 25 at 14 locations in Delhi-NCR. In the raid, the premises of Orris Infrastructure Private Limited, its directors and promoters Vijay Gupta, Amit Gupta and some others, and another company -- Three C Shelters Private Limited -- and its promoters Nirmal Singh Uppal and Vidhur Bhardwaj were searched.

Attempts to contact the two companies did not materialise. The money laundering investigation stems from two FIRs filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police against the accused based on complaints made by some homebuyers. The EOW filed a chargesheet before a court following its investigation.

There were several allegations of cheating, criminal breach of trust and fraud by the accused companies and persons, the central agency said in a statement. According to the ED, the Police FIRs alleged that Orris Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and Three C Shelters Pvt Ltd entered into a collaboration agreement to develop a residential group housing society named Greenpolis at Sector 89 of Gurugram in Haryana on a 47-acre land owned by the Orris Group.

The development rights for the said residential society were granted to Three C Shelters Pvt. Ltd. It is alleged that the two companies and their directors hatched a "criminal conspiracy" and "siphoned off" the homebuyers' hard-earned money by not completing the project within the stipulated time and not delivering the residential units to the homebuyers and investors.

This real estate "fraud" is worth more than Rs 500 crore, the ED said. The ED said it has seized several "incriminating" documents related to the diversion and layering of funds, property documents, sale and registration deeds and digital devices such as laptops, and hard drives. Documents were also recovered from "secret lockers" kept in the office premises of Orris Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, the probe agency said.

Fixed deposits and bank guarantees of Rs 31.22 crore (in the name of the Orris group) have been frozen and bank accounts, lockers and four luxury cars of Mercedes, Porsche, BMW etc. Brands were seized from the residence of one of the directors of the Orris Group, it said.