NEW DELHI: The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has busted a multi-crore rupee fraud in which a gang duped around 2,000 people from many parts of the country on the promise of providing them affordable housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna. While the kingpin has been arrested, police are in pursuit of others involved.It was not only home buyers, but also four advertising and event organising firms, including Wizcraft, that were scammed into depositing earnest money for bids to organise a so-called ‘Rashtriya Awas Divas’, police discovered. The names of people who were to get houses under this scheme were to be announced at the event, which, the accused claimed, would be attended by the PM and other ministers.Kingpin Rajinder Tripathi (57) has been arrested and the hunt is on for others, said Ajit K Singla, additional commissioner (crime), on Thursday. Tripathi is a commerce graduate from Gorakhpur University.The cops revealed that Tripathi was running a trust called the National Housing Development Organization (NHDO). It had a website (www.nhdoindia.org) that displayed the photograph of the Prime Minister, creating a false impression that NHDO was a government body under the ministry of housing. Membership cost Rs 10,000 and Tripathi was collecting this amount from the people.DCP (crime) Bhisham Singh that police raid Tripathi’s office in south-east Delhi’s Nehru Place and froze two of Tripathi’s bank accounts at the PNB branch in the same area. The transactions in these accounts are being analysed. He added that an FIR was registered against the accused for cheating and forgery after a complaint was lodged by an official of the rank of an undersecretary in the Union housing ministry.The ministry had received a complaint along with a forged letter dated February 9, 2017 in which the “chairman” of NHDO had written that the organisation had been projected as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed under the ministry. DCP Singh said, “Another complaint was simultaneously received from a firm called Goldmine Advertising Ltd that NHDO had siphoned off the earnest money of the tenders for organising a Rashtriya Awas Divas event for the promotion of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna.”Then, three other companies, Vermillion Communications (P) Ltd, Graphic Aids (P) Ltd and Wizcraft Advertising, also came forward with similar allegations and filed complaints with the Crime Branch. So, a special team led by ACP R K Ojha and inspector Brijpal Singh was formed. The team laid a trap and nabbed the accused.Tripathi apparently shifted to Delhi in the early 1990s and started a NGO called LIC Policy Holders Welfare Organisation. He claimed to working for the welfare and grievance redress of all Life Insurance Company policy Holders. “He projected a microcredit scheme for NGOs across India in 2004. Under this scheme, he duped NGOs regarding loans to be provided to women in rural areas. A case was registered at Hauz Khas against him,” additional CP Singla added. Another case was registered at Daryaganj for cheating an ad firm.The cops are now trying to track down the victims of the scan and record their statements. They have appealed to people to come forward with their complaints.

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