The Delhi Police arrested a high-profile cheat Dheeraj

The Delhi Police have arrested a high-profile cheat who used to usurp Indian properties of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) by using forged documents. The accused, Dheeraj Singh (46), a resident of Safdarjung Enclave used to target properties of NRIs who rarely visited India.

Dheeraj's act came to light when a resident of Kirti Nagar, Surinder Malhotra, lodged a complaint with police that the UK-based NRI Raj Rani's property in Green Park Extension had been forcefully occupied by one Dheeraj and his brother Ram Niwas. Malhotra said that he came to know of the fact after the NRI gave him special power of attorney to look after her property.

"During investigation, a police team visited the property several times but found it locked. The electricity bill of the property was obtained and it was found that electric connection had been obtained on forged documents by one Ram Niwas.

A copy of receipt-cum-possession letter was also obtained from the Saket Court which revealed that signatures of landlady and a witness were forged. Investigations further revealed that both Dheeraj Singh and Ram Niwas had earlier been arrested by the Anti-Corruption Branch of CBI in Chandigarh for cheating Punjab National Bank, (Chandigarh branch) of crores of rupees in connivance with the bank officials. Both the accused had later been released on the bail.

The officials of Anti-Corruption Branch in Chandigarh were also contacted to obtain the details of accused. Several raids were conducted in Panchkula (Chandigarh), Ghaziabad (UP) and Wazirabad (Delhi) to arrest the duo but they were absconding. Finally, the accused Dheeraj was arrested from Chandigarh on Saturday," said Chhaya Sharma DCP (south).

"The accused disclosed that he ran two companies D S Industry and Himland Real Estate Pvt. Ltd in Punjab. The accused said he used to visit foreign countries, especially the UK and befriend Indians living there by either staying with them or entering into business deals with them and also collected information about their properties in India. After getting complete details of their properties, they selected their victims like old NRIs who rarely visited India but had huge properties here. They then prepared forged documents of the victim's property and usurped the same. The manhunt for other accused is on," DCP Chhaya Sharma said.