In a dramatic chase, the Delhi Police has managed to nab absconding CMD of JVG Group Vijay Kumar Sharma from Bhairon Road near Pragati Maidan. The 51-year-old school dropout, who aspired to set up a Rs 12,000-crore business empire but allegedly cheated around Rs 1,000 crore from lakhs of unsuspecting investors, was travelling in his Mercedes E-280.
Sharma had been arrested on earlier occasions too and carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head. Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) RS Yadav said Sharma has been on the run and was evading the dragnet for the past three years. He was put under surveillance and a team of the anti-extortion unit was after him.
A team led by Delhi Police Inspector Dig Vijay Singh and SI Arun Dev Nehra started chasing him from Kailash Colony Metro Station. Though he tried to speed past, the police managed to get him.
It was a dramatic moment as two Head Constables caught hold of Sharma from the driver’s side and removed the car keys while another entered the car from the other side and overpowered him.
The real estate scamster named colonies after famous leaders such as former Prime Minister Chadhary Charan Singh and socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan. Sharma was wanted in 10 cases of cheating and had floated 17 companies, the ACP said.
Sharma is son of a former Government schoolteacher but dreamed bug. He had grand plans for expanding JVG to a Rs 12,000-crore empire by 2000.
He announced that he would invest over Rs 4,000 crore in power, cement, hotels, steel, textiles and aviation. He also launched Avatar brand of detergent and washing bars to enter the FMCG segment.
“He wanted to set up mega townships in Gurgaon, Patna, Mumbai and Hyderabad and to acquire hotel and cement interests of Jaiprakash Industries, steel units of Rathi Alloys and the aircraft of Modiluft,” Yadav said.
Sharma had acquired Orkay’s polyester yarn plant in Mumbai in March 1997 through a tripartite agreement with financial institutions led by IDBI and the Mehras, who owned Orkay.
He was to pay the Mehras Rs 98 crore and take on the Rs 130-crore liability to various banks, but the agreement fell through after he could not meet deadlines, according to the ACP.