Sachin Naik, the con man, who duped hundreds of Bengaluru residents of their money amounting to Rs 1,500 crore, has gone missing after he was released on bail on September 5.
The Criminal Investigation Department, which is probing the case is now in a fix as they are unable to trace the seasoned con man.
According to a CID source with knowledge of the investigation, the prime accused in the multi-crore Dreams Infra realty scam, absconded a few days after he received bail. The story was first reported by Bangalore Mirror.
“He violated his bail conditions. He was supposed to appear before the investigating officer (IO) every Tuesday and Friday. He visited the IO three times and disappeared after that. We are trying to find him,” the source said.
On October 19, the CID has officially made a submission before the first Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court and requested for the cancellation of his bail, stating that he had violated the conditions.
“Some of his employees and real estate agents he worked with, are witnesses in the case. Witness tampering is an issue, so we want to arrest him as soon as possible,” the source said.
The CID has already begun property recovery registered in the name of the accused. Sachin Naik had committed the fraud by ensuring that he made his partners, his ex-wife Disha Choudhury and his current wife Mandeep Kaur, managing directors of the firms.
“This essentially makes him not a part of the companies. But he was the kingpin of the scam. Disha Choudhary and Mandeep Kaur have not absconded,” the source added.
Sachin Naik, along with Disha Choudhury and Mandeep Kaur, allegedly duped more than 2,000 people through multiple realty ventures including Dreamz Infra, TGS Real Estate and Gruha Kalyan Properties.
According to DCP South East, Boralingaiah, “Mandeep Kaur has 51% shares in TGS. Disha Choudhary, meanwhile, is not on the board of directors of any of these companies, he owns 51% shares in Disha’s firms as well.”
“Together, they have duped people to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore. Initially, a few investors had filed a complaint with the Madiwala police in September 2015, and later many more came forward, after which a collective complaint was filed in August 2016,” he added.
Sachin Naik, Disha Choudhary and Mandeep Kaur are accused of accepting advance payments from their customers for residential apartments and later not delivering on the projects.
The money collected was used for other ventures including making a film, police say. He was arrested in December 2016 and after multiple protests by customers, the probe was handed over to the CID.
The CID officials have also pasted a notice outside his residence. Investigators have already found out that the house address he had given them was actually registered in the name of Mandeep Kaur, co-accused in Gruha Kalyan properties case.
CID is now waiting for the court’s orders.