Police bust racket promising houses for people, five held

Kathmandu, August 16

Police today rounded up a gang of five persons, who allegedly swindled people of millions of rupees with the promise of constructing houses and settlements for them through small investment.

Members of the racket have been identified as Raj Praja, 24, Raj Kumar Praja, 25, Deepak Praja, 30, Shyam Kumar Praja, 38, and Binod Praja, 34, of Raksirang Rural Municipality-4, Makwanpur district.

Acting on a tip-off by intelligence officials, a team from Balaju-based Metropolitan Police Circle swung into action and arrested the fraudsters from Mahabouddha of Kathmandu today.

According to police, the arrested were found operating the racket in an organised manner to cheat unsuspecting people in Makwanpur and Kathmandu districts.

They made off with cash from five persons, promising to build a two-room house in Kathmandu at a cost of Rs 500,000 each.

The racketeers also collected Rs 2,000 each from 300 households in Lothar of Makwanpur as registration fee for construction of a Chepang settlement.

Police have seized Rs 85,500 in cash, fake stamp seals, registration forms, visiting cards and two books of bank cheques, among other things, from the arrested.

The police team had caught them in the act of defrauding two persons in Machhapokhari of Kathmandu.They have been kept in the custody of Metropolitan Police Circle, Balaju, for further investigation into the case.

Officials said more persons were involved in the racket. “We are also coordinating with police units of various districts to confirm if there are any complaints pertaining to this new modus operandi of fraud,” a police official said.