A man who duped over 250 people of at least Rs 3 crore by pretending to be an officer at the Gujarat Secretariat and promising cheap houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) has been arrested in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
The police arrested Viramsinh (34) based on a complaint filed by a woman who owns a hair salon. She claimed that Viramsinh had promised her a cheap flat under the PMAY scheme, for which she paid Rs 18.45 lakh. However, after two years, she had neither received the house nor her money back.
Upon further investigation, the police discovered that Viramsinh had been cheating more than 250 people in Ahmedabad since 2022, making similar false promises to provide affordable homes and offices.
“After probing the woman’s complaint, it was found that not only one but more than 250 people had been cheated by Viramsinh of more than Rs 3 crore. The money was collected through various means, including Google Pay, cash, and cheque. We are also investigating around 8 to 10 of his accomplices, some of whom have been paid Rs 50 lakh in commission by Viramsinh,” said Ahmedabad DCP Balram Meena.
To evade suspicion, Viramsinh took the victims to the sub-registrar’s office for registration on the Garvi Gujarat portal. He showed them pictures of empty time slots on the portal to reassure them. During these times, he would have them fill out fake documents and obtain their signatures, further deceiving them into believing the process was legitimate.
