Chandigarh: Promoters of Universal Buildwell Arrested for Massive Real Estate Fraud

Chandigarh: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Gurugram Zonal Office, has announced the arrest of Raman Puri, Varun Puri, and Vikram Puri, the promoters and former directors of M/s Universal Buildwell Pvt Ltd. The arrests were made under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case related to alleged real estate fraud. The accused were apprehended on Tuesday night and were declared proclaimed offenders by various courts in predicate matters. They were taken into custody by the Delhi Police.

The special PMLA court in Gurugram remanded the trio into ED custody until July 29. The ED initiated an investigation into the case based on more than 30 FIRs registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) across the Delhi NCR region. The FIRs were filed against M/s Universal Buildwell Pvt Ltd, Raman Puri, Vikram Puri, and Varun Puri for failing to complete real estate projects on time and cheating homebuyers and investors of their hard-earned money.

The company was taken to the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), which resulted in a resolution plan for homebuyers and other financial contributors. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ordered some assets to be delivered to the homebuyers, who were the financial creditors, and the remaining assets to be liquidated. Most of the homebuyers had invested in the project before 2010.

The case stems from the fraudulent mobilization of homebuyers and investors' funds by the accused persons through Universal Buildwell Pvt Ltd. The accused made false promises of completing the project by 2010 and assured returns in commercial projects. They are also accused of cheating various financial institutions through forgery and fraud. The accused reportedly transferred some assets at negligible rates, oversold existing inventory, and executed forged agreements for their personal benefits.

Data collected from the resolution professional revealed that the company, through their accused promoters, collected more than Rs 1,000 crore over 12 years on eight different projects in Gurugram and Faridabad, including Universal Trade Tower, Universal Greens, Universal Business Park, Aura, Universal Square, Market Square, The Pavilion, and Universal Prime. They allegedly utilized only a portion of the funds for development and siphoned off the funds to acquire lands and other assets for their personal gains through criminal misappropriation, cheating, forgery, and fraud.

The arrest of the Puri brothers marks a significant step in the ongoing efforts to bring justice to the numerous homebuyers and investors who have been affected by this massive real estate fraud. The ED and other law enforcement agencies continue to investigate the case to ensure that all those involved are held accountable for their actions.