NEW DELHI: Two employees of Delhi Development Authority have been detained and four men posing as DDA staff arrested for duping people of crores on the pretext of selling them prime plots in the city.

The victims were allegedly sold plots under the Nazrul Act, which lets DDA sell land at subsidized rates to private educational institutions and societies. After the victims were taken to various departments in DDA to discuss the deal, they were shown barren lands before they made payments, said crime branch officials.

The racket was running out of the DDA premises, additional CP (crime) Ravindra Yadav said. “The arrested have been identified as Naveen Kumar alias Lucky (41), Ajay Kumar (36), Shailender Bhatia (53) and Padam Singh alias Bhagat (53) who runs a kachori shop near the DDA headquarters,” he said.

Identities of the DDA men have not been disclosed. Prem Shankar Sharma, a former employee who has 17 cases against him and is in jail, has emerged as a major player. He will be taken on police remand.

While Singh trapped people visiting the office, Sharma posed as assistant director, Naveen as his assistant, and Ajay as deed writer at DDA. Bhatia, arrested in eight cases earlier, posed as a junior engineer, got the plots inspected and gave the possession letters.

A team led by DCP (crime) Kumar Gyanesh started following the gang when one Kanwal Sahni from Mukherjee Nagar complained that one Padam Singh alias Masterji had introduced him to Sharma, a class IV employee of DDA who was introduced as an assistant director.

Sahni had bought a plot in Paschim Vihar for Rs 3.83 crore. He first deposited Rs1.27 crore in a DDA account; the rest was taken in cash. The money in the DDA account is lying in it. The fraud came to fore when Sahni tried to sell the plot and the prospective buyer went to DDA for document check before making payments.

Mukesh Kumar, Preetam Singh Saluja and Manoj Saluja had also paid almost the same amount for plots in Madhu Vihar, Yamuna Vihar and Paschim Vihar, sources said.

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