Delhi Police have arrested a notorious land mafia and interstate cheater from Maharashtra's Nashik, for duping people of Rs 1,000 crore on the pretext of allotting flats in Uttar Pradesh's Noida, a senior police official said on Friday. The accused, identified as Piyush Tiwari (42) alias Puneet Bhardwaj was also declared a proclaimed offender in 2018 in the cheating cases and a reward of Rs 50,000 was also declared against him. Furnishing details, Deputy Commissioner of Police Sagar Singh Kalsi said on March 20, an information was received through sources that one proclaimed offender, namely Piyush Tiwari, who was carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 was residing somewhere in Nashik, Maharashtra. Acting on the information, a police team was constituted which further developed the information and found that the accused was residing in Nashik and was in the foodchain business. The team conducted a raid and apprehended the accused.
During interrogation, he disclosed that he had started his business as a builder in 2011 and created eight companies along with 15-20 shell companies till 2018. In 2016, an income tax raid was conducted at his house and about Rs 120 crore was seized, the official said. "After this, accused Piyush's business as a builder collapsed and in order to stand in the market, he started cheating people on the pretext of selling one flat to multiple buyers," the DCP said. As several cases were registered against the accused in this regard, he fled from Delhi and shifted his base to South India on a fake name and entered into various businesses. The accused has been arrested under sections 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust), 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 120B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy) and further probe is on, the official added.