JNU senior official arrested for cheating, misuse of funds amounting to over Rs 11 crores

New Delhi [India], December 27 : The Economic Offence Wing, Delhi police has arrested a senior technical assistant working at Jawahar Lal Nehru University, in a case related to cheating and misappropriation of funds of more than Rs. 11 crores in inducing the professors of JNU on the pretext of providing affordable housing project, Economic Offences Wing official said.
According to the police, the accused has been identified as P D Gaikwad.
DCP EOW Surendra Choudhary said, "Economic Offences Wing, Delhi police has arrested a senior technical assistant working in Jawahar Lal Nehru University, named P D Gaikwad in a case of cheating and misappropriation of funds of more than Rs 11 crores by inducing the professors of JNU on the pretext of providing affordable housing project under the guise of purported DDA approved land pooling policy."
According to DCP EOW Surendra Chaudhary, an FIR was registered on the complaints of professors, working in Jawahar Lal Nehru University and IIT Delhi by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police. It was alleged by the complainants that in the year 2015, accused P D Gaikwad, who was working as a Scientific Officer at the School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, New Delhi, formed the Noble Socio-Scientific Welfare Organization (NSSWO) claiming to provide affordable housing.
He made a presentation and enticed them to become members of the said organization. In his capacity as the President of the said organization, accused P D Gaikwad provided the details of a proposed housing project under a DDA land pooling policy for which he said that NSSWO was in the process of procuring land in the proposed L-Zone.
Accordingly, complainants became members of NSSWO and booked units in the said proposed project. The complainants paid membership fees and payments for their flats. The alleged person apprised them of the progress of the project from time to time, which they realized was untrue in hindsight.
On November 1, 2015, the accused took them to show a piece of land in the L-Zone, Najafgarh. However, he did not show any document supporting the purchase of the land. Over the years, they came to realize that he was cheating the complainants right from the beginning in the name of providing them with their booked units in the said purported project under the land pooling scheme of DDA.
In 2019, Gaikwad informed the complainants by an email that he was going to launch a different Society namely Siddhartha Officers Housing & Social Welfare Society through Govt. of NCT of Delhi and as a member of NSSWO, complainants could change their membership to the new society by visiting his office in JNU. He did this without holding a GBM with NSSWO members. Since 2019, the complainants have been writing to Gaikwad to return their money but they did not receive any acknowledgement for any of these communications. Accused P D Gaikwad has collected more than Rs. 11 crore from the above members/complainants and misappropriated the same.
During the investigation, complainants provided the materials/brochures and receipts issued by accused P D Gaikwad. On scrutiny, it was found that materials/brochures contained very rosy and artistic pictures of a housing project and the same were also depicting the land pooling policy of DDA. Accused Gaikwad had formed a Society namely Noble Socio-Scientific Welfare Organization (NSSWO) for the said cheating and became President of the said Society. Emails sent by Gaikwad to the members on a regular basis also contained the elements of inducement depicting the land pooling policy of DDA.
However, during the investigation, DDA informed that it had not issued any license or granted any approval to any housing project under the land pooling policy in Dwarka or any other land pooling zones nor authorized any developer/builder/ society/company including NSSWO to offer any flat in the name of DDA under land pooling policy.
RERA (Delhi) has confirmed that the alleged Society has neither registered itself with RERA nor applied for registration. Scrutiny of the bank account of the society reveals that he received more than Rs 11 Crores in the said bank account of the society from the members of the said Society, however, the funds were either siphoned off through cash withdrawal or transferred to other accounts.
He cheated several victims in lieu of providing affordable housing projects under the guise of the purported Land Pooling Policy of DDA.
When the notices were served upon the accused, he was not found at his available addresses. After making sincere efforts, the accused was arrested in the present case on December 14.
P D Gaikwad came to know about some societies, indulged in making money by offering affordable housing schemes in the name of the land pooling policy of DDA. Accordingly, he as President formed a Society by the name of the Noble Socio-Scientific Welfare Organization (NSSWO) in 2011. As the other Societies were making profits by inducing government employees and other people in their societies as members of Society, he also started making presentations and had meetings with professors of JNU and other government employees and enticed them to become members of the Society in the name of land pooling policy of DDA.
He informed them that his Society was in the process of procuring land in the proposed L-Zone under the DDA land pooling policy. As he was a permanent and senior official in JNU, they believed his words and became members of the said Society. Thereafter, he started collecting money from them in the name of purchasing the land for the project in the account of said society. He was the only authorized signatory in this bank account.
He had also made a website in the name of said Society, on which he posted attractive and rosy brochures concerning the proposed project under the land pooling policy of DDA which did not have any approval from DDA for the said project and collection of money from the members. From 2011 to 2021, he collected more than Rs. 11 crores in the said account from the members and misappropriated in the form of cash withdrawals and transferred to other persons in the name of purchasing land and services rendered by liaison.