Woman held for cheating people of Rs 1.85 crore on pretext of allotting them surrendered CHB houses

Claiming to be a member of a committee constituted by the Chandigarh administrator for house allotment to boasting of her close links in PMO, New Delhi, Manjeet Kaur of Sector 51A, has duped more than nine people of around Rs 1.85 crore.

Kaur, who has been associated with various local political parties including regional and national, was arrested and remanded in two-day police custody on Thursday. The 72-year-old woman promised people to issue allotment of surrendered houses on their names in Chandigarh.

She is in the custody of Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of UT police. Those who were duped by her include retired superintendent from Punjab Water Works Department and a retired Junior Engineer (JE) of UT among others.

'The woman used to trap the people assuring them about their properties in Chandigarh through short-cuts and avoiding paying large amount,' said one of the victims on the condition of anonymity.

'Kaur was arrested for committing a cheating of Rs 87 lakh with one Madan Mohan Gupta and his wife, from Mohali. Since after her arrest, various people have approached EOW complaining that they were also cheated by the woman. She has been operating in a well-planned manner. We have learnt that Manjit Kaur has enough information about the UT housing board policies related to different housing schemes, rehabilitation schemes etc. This is the second FIR against her. Earlier, an FIR against her was registered in PS 49, one and half years back, but the woman managed to settle down the matter out of the court. We are in the process of ascertaining where the woman spent the cheated Rs 87 lakh. Kaur's husband is a retired professor. She has two sons, one of whom passed away a few years back,' said sources.

Madan Mohan Gupta of Mohali said, 'Two years back, the woman met me and my wife at a local temple. Kaur claimed to be the managing officer of the temple management body. She offered me the sale of a High-Income Group (HIG) flat. She claimed to be a member of a committee constituted under the chairmanship of UT Administrator and said that she could help me purchase a surrendered HIG flat out of four without any hurdle. I fell for her trap. I handed over her more than 50 per cent of the amount out of Rs 87 lakh. Later, she approached me claiming that she managed to get allotment of a booth. She demanded more money claiming the price of HIG flat had increased by Rs 9 lakh more. Overall, I made a payment of Rs 87 lakh to her at her residence. The woman is a part of an organised gang operating in Chandigarh.'

DSP (EOW) Harjeet Kaur said, 'We are in the process of collecting evidence related to the cheating case against the woman. People are approaching us narrating incidents of how the woman cheated them. The details of her bank accounts will be collected and scrutinised. She used to boast about her links with politicians and bureaucrats etc.'