As many as 20 complainants on Monday approached the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch police here accusing the Hi-Tech Group of not handing over the promised flats to them.
The aggrieved persons lodged the complaint against Hi-Tech Estate and Promoter Pvt ltd director Tirupati Panigrahi and three other directors of the company for adopting a dillydallying tactics and not conforming to the agreements.
The complainants had booked flats in the Hi-Tech Heaven Apartment project at Matiapada in Pipili. As per the agreements signed in 2008, the company was to hand over the properties to its customers in 2013, sources said.
The complainants asked police to ensure either return of their investment or handover of their flats to them.
“The apartment project consists of 1,100 flats, and the project cost was estimated at Rs 180 crore. The builder has already collected around Rs 120 crore from prospective buyers. But the company is yet to deliver flats to us,” a complainant said.
It may be noted that earlier on December 25, 2012, Tirupati Panigrahi was arrested by the EOW for reneging on the promise of providing residential plots to people after taking money from them in 2009.
The probe by the EOW had revealed that the Hi-tech Group owed more than Rs 315.96 crore to the investors. The company had received money from 17,181 investors with the promise of providing them residential plots of which 16,901 investors were yet to get land. The EOW had registered at least five cases against the Hi-Tech Group in this connection.
Panigrahi had moved the Supreme Court, which had granted bail to him in February 2014 with a condition to deposit Rs 63.55 crore with it for a refund to the customers. The realtor has deposited the same amount in instalments.