New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) A 40-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly cheating buyers interested in purchasing flats at a project in Haryana's Sonipat to the tune of over Rs 5 crore by misappropriating the payments, the police said on Thursday.

The accused, Rashmi Rathi, a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly took money from buyers and provided them with forged and fabricated documents in return, they added.

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She was an employee of Max Heights Promoters Private Limited for the last 12 years and worked as the front office-coordinator of the company's projects, Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Surendra Choudhary said on Thursday.

According to a complaint, a woman alleged that she had purchased a flat at Max Heights Dream Homes, Kundli, Sector-61, Sonipat on January 1, 2021 and got the possession of the house, a senior police officer said.

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The complainant later expressed interest in purchasing another flat in the society that was up for sale at Rs 17 lakh. On the directions of two persons -- Arun Rathi and Prateek Rathi -- she paid Rashmi a total of Rs 12 lakh in cash and Rs 5 lakh through RTGS, the officer said.

The woman further alleged that the keys of the flats were handed over to her after the payment but the directors of the company denied the receipt of money and refused to transfer the ownership rights in her name through official registration, the officer added.

During investigation, the actual allottees of the flats said they were issued allotment letters by M/s Maxheight Promoters Private Limited. They said they never got in touch with Rashmi for reselling their flats and have original documents, the officer said.

Rashmi sold their flats on the basis of forged and fabricated documents and collected over Rs 5 crore in her two bank accounts and the funds were either siphoned off through cash withdrawal or transferred to other accounts, the officer said.

Rashmi was absconding and later apprehended from Bulandshahar on Monday, Choudhary said.

She was involved in client service and was fully versed with the details of the projects OF Max Heights Promoters Private Limited. Being the office coordinator, she was overseeing the routine work of the company and was in touch with the owners of the flats for recovery of due payments and other dues, the DCP said.

She was also in charge of maintaining the sub-ledger accounts and payment records, including cheques/RTGS received, the DCP said.

Rashmi created shell companies and used them to pay and receive money from buyers or sellers and subsequently issue sham no-objection certificates. She had also made several smaller transactions from her shell companies and from her own account as well as her sister's in order to settle the sub-ledgers of different flats, Choudhary said.

She used several stationery articles, letter heads and rubber stamps of the company to dupe the buyers, he added.

(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)