Real estate company's CEO arrested for duping lawyers of Rs 6 crore in Gurugram

The chief executive officer of a prominent real estate firm has been arrested in Gurugram for allegedly cheating around 50 lawyers of Rs 6 crore by luring them into investing in a project that he claimed would generate exceptionally high returns, police said on Sunday.

The accused, Puneet Beriwala, 62, CEO of Vipul Limited and a resident of Sector 42, was arrested on Friday by the Economic Offences Wing. He was produced before a court on Saturday, which remanded him to two days of police custody for interrogation .

According to investigators, the lawyers, mainly associated with the Gurugram and Rohtak Bar Associations, were persuaded in April 2024 to invest in a proposed real estate venture. Beriwala allegedly promised to double their investment within a short period . To win their trust, he reportedly issued post-dated cheques worth over Rs 4.1 crore and assured them that repayments would be made from the sale of assets, including the firm’s V Club property on Sohna Road. However, the cheques were never honoured and he eventually stopped responding.

After repeated attempts to recover their money failed, the aggrieved lawyers staged a protest outside V Club in August last year, demanding strict action. A joint complaint was filed on October 1, following which an FIR was registered at Shivaji Nagar police station against Beriwala and his associates, Sunil Bhandari and Praveen Gupta. The investigation was later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing for a detailed probe .

During questioning, Beriwala told police that the money collected from the lawyers had been diverted into other real estate projects . Investigators are now scrutinising bank transactions and company records to trace the money trail and establish whether the funds were misappropriated.

“We are questioning the accused on police remand and are conducting raids to arrest his associates ,” a Gurugram Police spokesperson said, adding that further legal action would follow based on the findings of the ongoing investigation.