New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) Three men were arrested for allegedly cheating companies of more than Rs 10 crore by selling them properties that were already mortgaged with a bank, police said on Tuesday.

Based on an investigation, accused Rishi Arora, Umesh Azad and Manoj Dwivedi were arrested on Monday by the Economic Offences Wing of the city police in connection with a case registered against them in 2018, they said.

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The trio cheated the complainant companies by selling the properties already mortgaged with a bank and duping them of over Rs 10 crore, police said, adding further investigation is underway.

According to police, complainant Vinod Kumar Rajpaul, director of two companies and its sister concern, filed two different complaints against Shri Colonizers and Developers Pvt. Ltd. and its directors for selling a hotel property along with proportionate land area measuring 4,973.92 square feet in Lucknow and residential area of 1,00,000 sq. ft. situated in the same location for a total sale consideration of Rs 6,86,40,000 (for hotel property) and Rs 3,93,60,000 (for residential area) to them.

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The complainants alleged that the land was already put as security against a bank loan of Rs 15 crore by Shri Colonizers and Developers Pvt. Ltd. In the meantime, the loan became a non-performing asset (NPA), resulting in the bank taking over possession of the land, police said.

"The accused persons duped the complainant of more than Rs 10 crore by misrepresenting the complainant that the land was free from all encumbrances. Later on, it was revealed that it was mortgaged with a bank for a loan of Rs 15 crore and subsequently, the possession of the land was with the bank as the loan became an NPA," said Rajeev Ranjan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)