Subhash and Ranveer Bijarani, two brothers from Rajasthan, are accused of scamming around 70,000 people out of Rs. 2,676 crore.
The two brothers from Sikar district created Nexa Evergreen and reportedly misleading investors by offering approximately 28% profits and property plots in Gujarat’s Dholera Greenfield Smart City. They also fooled investors by presenting them with numerous Dholera city projects.
The ED conducted simultaneous raids at 24 locations in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi. Raids were conducted in Sikar, Jhunjhunu, and Jaipur, and also in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The stir has once again brought the multi-crore fraud case into the limelight.
Nexa Evergreen Dholera Scam Details
- Fraud Scale: Nexa Evergreen, marketed as a real estate investment opportunity in Dholera Smart City, fooled around 62,000-70,000 investor-mainly government employees and security personnel-by promising to double their money in 14 months on plots of affordable housing.
- Misleading Promises: Official images (including with the Prime Minister) were shown to the investors, and returns were guaranteed on a weekly basis; for example, Rs. 50,000 for 60 months at Rs. 1,352 per week (nearly 28% returns annually).
- Ghost Companies and Land Buys: The promoters—primarily brothers Subhash and Ranveer Bijarniya—had utilized over 6 companies and 30 other related firms registered between 2019 and 2022 to raise money and buy land in Dholera and other places.
- Gravitation in Stages: Early investors saw little money or land and, with the curtain coming down by January 2023, operated over the years with minimal payments and promoters who vanished.
Enticing the big-ticket investors with promises of smart city solutions
Dholera Smart City, located within the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, served as an attractive destination. Spanning 920 sq km and including 22 villages, it stands as one of the most ambitious urban initiatives in India. The project, with its promise of world-class infrastructure, AI-enabled services, and an international airport, added a layer of trust to Nexa Evergreen’s doubtful investment schemes. Victims thought they were investing in government-backed real estate.
How Scam Was Began?
Founded on April 17, 2021, Nexa Evergreen was able to raise Rs 2,700 crore from investors through a strong agent network. The firm had bought some 1,300 bighas of land in and around Dholera, the price of which began at 50,000 per bigha and shot up to 8 lakh per bigha. They offered multiple investment schemes and paid Rs 1,500 crore as commissions to agents to rope in more investors. The company suddenly went out of business in January 2023, after a year and a half of doing business, and the founders vanished.
Big acquisitions financed with dirty money
The ED is of the opinion that the Bijarania brothers utilized the proceeds from the scam to acquire.
- Resort worth Rs 25 crore in Goa, granite and marble mines running in Rajsamand, hotels running in Jaipur, and a luxurious flat and vehicle in Ahmedabad.
- A number of bungalows and houses in the villages like Kudan.
A large amount has been detected, in cash, of Rs 250 crore, and in bank accounts, of Rs 15 crore, but the total recovery is uncertain.
Victims & Protests:
- Massive Impact: Over 100 FIRs have been registered in Jaipur, Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur, and other places.
- Demonstrations: In December 2023, victims climbed water tanks in Jaipur, demanding arrests and compensation, approximately mass mental and financial distress.
- Present Condition: Nexa Evergreen has been held by authorities to be a case of “massive real estate money laundering” under the PMLA, with ED and CGST taking continuing steps in the matter.
Importance of verifying developers
Investing in real estate, particularly in developing areas such as Dholera Smart City, presents the potential for substantial returns; however, it also involves considerable risk. Frauds such as the Nexa Evergreen case, in which more than Rs. 2,700 crore was misappropriated from investors, underscore the vital necessity of confirming a developer’s authenticity prior to any financial engagement.
The Role of MLM in the Dholera Scam
The root of the Rs 27 billion scam (Nexa Evergreen MLM scheme) from a smart city project in Dholera, Gujarat, included offering to tie up the investment with other plots of land. The promoters of the scheme, who sensed an opportunity given the buzz around the Smart City, peddled an MLM model that used the lure of approximately 28% returns in return for selling plots to new recruits. This pyramid scheme paid commission not just for selling, but also for generating commissions through other people you recruit to join the scheme and do the same.
Conclusion:
The Rs. 2,700 crore scam of the Dholera Smart City exposes the endemically corrupt thrust of big urban development projects in India. It was supposed to be a shining example of how to build modern infrastructure, but it has since become a tale of greed and wrongdoing gone wild. As the investigations continue, there is an opportunity to seize the embezzled money from this scam to some extent and hope for the trust of scam victims to be regained and that Dholera comes out to be a true smart city free of corruption.
Source:- https://rb.gy/007vhk
