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New Delhi, Oct 31 (IANS) A special CBI court in Delhi on Friday sentenced 13 convicts, including a retired IAS officer, to two to five years in jail in the multi-crore Cooperative Group Housing Society (CGHS) scam involving forgery and corruption in reviving dormant societies to defraud thousands of prospective home buyers in the capital.
The CBI said in a statement that 13 accused were punished in connection with wrongdoings related to the Safdarjung Co-operative Group Housing Society case.
Convicts Karamvir Singh, Narendra Kumar, Maha Nan Sharma, Pankaj Madan, Ahawni Sharma, Ashutosh Pant, Sudershan Tandon, Manoj Vats, Vijay Thakur, Vikas Madan and Poonam Awasthi were sentenced to 5 years imprisonment with a fine.
Retired IAS officer Gopal Dixit and 90-year-old Narendra Dheer have been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with fine, the statement said.
The case pertains to irregularities and criminal conspiracy in the revival of defunct societies by the office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies by using false and fabricated documents.
The investigation revealed that the culprits, including public servants and private individuals, hatched a criminal conspiracy to fraudulently revive the society on the basis of forged documents and obtained allotment of land from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) through fraudulent means.
After the land was allotted, the offered flats were sold to new members or agents at exorbitant rates. The conspirators allegedly created fake subscription lists, which affected thousands of potential home buyers.
After investigation, CBI filed the charge sheet in the case on 13 February 2008. After the hearing, the special court convicted 13 accused and sentenced them to imprisonment on Friday.
The CBI registered multiple FIRs against the alleged conspirators – developers, officials and builders – for charges including criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and corruption under the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.
With over 135 fake societies exposed, the scam has left many without a home and facing persistent financial liabilities like rising EMIs.
In one case, the CBI managed to get Narayan Diwakar, the then registrar of cooperative societies, sentenced to one year in prison. The then assistant registrar Yogi Raj, dealing assistant Niranjan Singh and other employees of the registrar’s office were also sentenced to imprisonment.
–IANS
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