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When dream homes vanish By RAI UMRAOPATI RAY

YOU MAY have giggled when Bunty duped a firangi and sold him the Taj Mahal in Bunty aur Babli and you must have rooted for the Khosla clan as they tried to get their property back from the land sharks in Khosla ka Ghosla. But in real life happy endings are rare
The real estate industry in India is flushed with thousands of instances where people have been cheated of their hard-earned money in the hope of owning their dream homes. Sometimes it is cartels of property dealers pulling the con or, as in a recent case, Delhi Development Authority officials who allegedly conspired and cornered flats reserved for SC/STs
For every bona fide house deal, there are several that are fake, like the recent cases of Noida-based Green City Buildtech and Delhi-based AJS Builders. Both are being investigated for allegedly duping several hundred customers by selling their projects without proper papers and clearances from the authorities. The losses, if found to be true, may run into several crores of rupees
The boom in real estate sector attracted many fly-by-night operators, unscrupulous property dealers and crooked builders who left no stone unturned to trap potential buyers, most of whom were looking for cash deals
From makeshift swanky offices to aggressive advertisement campaigns, the property con involves developing a convincing set up to make the customers believe
And many, especially first-time buyers, fall for the con. Of course it helps the conmen that in India there is little clarity on procedures, absence of any centralised regulatory body for this unorganised sector and a general perception that the realty arena will always give windfall returns in a short period
With the slowdown in the economy and the real estate sector, even so-called reputed builders find themselves in the dock for purposely delaying the completion of projects and increasing the rates by extending the area earlier agreed upon. With the fineprint always in favour of the builders, customers have no option but to sign and pay
This is a kind of “legit con”
Sunil Pandey, Delhi-based real estate expert and consultant said, “It is very easy for anyone to fall in the trap as the sector is highly unorganised. Thus, it is very important to verify each and every detail of the concerned property and the developer
People should check all the property papers, visit the concerned government authority for verification and, if need be, consult a lawyer before inking any deal. They should not get into any pre-launch offers”
India property conmen are not limited to operating in India. Dozens of Indians living in Bahrain have filed police complaints in India against Crowne Plaza International Hotels and Resorts owner Joseph Chacko. He has been accused of cheating Bahrain-based Indian investors of Bahraini Dinars 20 million (Rs 255 crores) in bogus land deals
Chacko is under arrest
The company he floated is based in Bengaluru and has nothing to do with Crowne Plaza Bahrain
Chacko has also been accused of duping poor Indians back home also. He got them to sign over the power of attorney to him to sell their land. He sold the land but hasn’t payed the land-owners. Buyers in turn claim that they were have still not been given the proper ownership documents.