New Delhi, May 20 (IANS): Manoj Vashisht, who was killed in an alleged shootout by Delhi Police's Special Cell on May 16, had allegedly cheated many people over real estate deals in Delhi, Chandigarh, Punjab and the National Capital Region (NCR), according to his accusers.
Three first information reports (FIRs) were registered against Vashisht and all his associates in Delhi's Barakhamba Road and Patel Nagar police stations in separate cases.
This was brought to the notice of the police top brass on Wednesday by a delegation of six people who claimed to have been cheated by Vashisht and his associates.
The delegation submitted a memorandum to police that included copies of the FIRs against Vashisht in cheating cases. IANS has accessed the documents submitted.
The complainants claimed they were duped by the RCS Group of companies, which deals in real estate, and its various sister concerns run by Vashisht.
The deceased man, reportedly posing as a managing director of a construction company, would offer real estate deals to his victims that never materialised after being paid for.
The documents were submitted to Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi, Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) S.N. Srivastava and Joint Commissioner of Police (Central Delhi) S.K. Gautam, with a plea for action against the other accused involved in the cases.
According to the documents, Vashisht -- the managing director of RCS Group of companies -- and his wife Priyanka (vice president) cheated many people with help from R.K. Bhargava (managing director), Pratap Singh Thakur (director-cum-authorised signatory), Dev Kumar (director), and Satyendra Tewatia (agent).
"All of them are equal partners in the crime of cheating and their arrest and custodial interrogation is extremely necessary in the light of the current development, i.e. death of Manoj Vashisht," said the memorandum.
The delegation comprised Sushil Kumar Verma, Ashwarya Rao, who is a lawyer in the Delhi High Court, Surjeet Singh, Gulzar Singh, Narinderpal Singh and Mangal Singh Bhatti.
The first two FIRs against Vashisht and his associates were registered at the Barakhamba Road police station on March 22, 2013, and March 27, 2014, respectively, on charges of cheating.
The third FIR was lodged at the Patel Nagar police station on September 15, 2013, on charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust.
One of the victims, Surjeet Singh told IANS that he was cheated by Vashisht's RCS Group of companies on the pretext of providing him property at a very low rate.
"I was cheated of more than Rs.35 lakh by Vashisht. When I demanded my money back, he implicated me in a rape case lodged in Barakhamba Road police station in 2013. But the case was later proved false," Surjeet, a resident of Punjab, told IANS.
Ashwarya Rao also has the similar story and claimed she was cheated of Rs.28 lakh by Vashisht's company.
Mangal Singh told IANS: "I was also cheated of over Rs.34 lakh by Vashisht and his associates on the pretext of providing me a flat."
Singh demanded speedy action against all the accused and the investigating officers of Delhi Police, who he said did not take action in his case till now.
Vashisht was killed in an alleged shootout by policemen of the Special Cell -- an elite unit specialised in combating anti-terror activities -- at 8.15 p.m. on May 16 in the Sagar Ratna restaurant in central Delhi's New Rajender Nagar area.
The whole incident was captured in a 29-second clip by a CCTV camera installed inside the restaurant, which is, however, quite grainy.
The clip shows two policemen in plain clothes walking up to Vashisht who took out a pistol first before the shootout.
A vigilance probe was also ordered apart from the magisterial inquiry launched by the Delhi government a day after the incident.
On Tuesday, all the nine Special Cell policemen, Inspector Dharmendra Kumar -- who was leading the operation -- sub-inspectors Vivek Singh and Bhoop Singh, head constables Anil Rao, Sanjay Pal and constables Manish, Abdul Ahad Khan, Jitendra and Mohit were transferred to different departments of Delhi Police.