The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police has arrested a 60-year-old conman for duping hundreds of people to the tune of Rs 200 crore. The accused, Vijay Dixit used to pose as a builder, developer as well as financial advisor having membership of Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and then conned the investors by promising them high returns on their investments in real estate projects.
Joint Commissioner of Police (EOW), Praveer Ranjan said that the accused Dixit is a publisher and also has a construction business in the capital and NCR. Dixit, who had been evading arrest, is wanted in around 30 cases of cheating and Negotiable Instruments Act was nabbed from a farmhouse in Mahipalpur in South Delhi on Saturday by a team led Inspector Jai Prakash and Sub-Inspector Balihar Singh. “Dixit used his age and good influencing skills to cheat the investors. In one such matter, he received investments from a large number of persons in the name of pre-launch of residential plots in Sonepat in Haryana by floating a project namely SBl City,” he added.
Police said that Dixit had been arrested earlier when cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad were published in a periodical brought out by his company. He also owns malls and properties worth crores in NCR. Dixit is also accused in a case registered by Economic Offences Wing. A lookout circular was also issued against Dixit in 2009.
Ranjan also said that the accused Dixit was neither having the land nor any permission from any authority for the said project. “After collecting money, he vanished from the scene leaving the investors in lurch. In another matter, he cheated more than Rs 90 lakh from one Dr Manjula Pathak Kripendorf after promising him to develop his property situated in Defence Colony in South Delhi.
In yet another case of misappropriation, he floated a company on the name of M/s Senior Power Projects limited and promised high returns to the complainants by inviting investments in commodity trading at MCX. He after receiving investments of around Rs 1.70 crore shut down his office and fled away duping more than 100 investors,” he added.