Who is Kabul Chawla of BPTP?
India, over the years, has been rattled by one scam after the other, from the banking sector scams to various scams done under political clout, and the real estate sector has not been left behind when it comes to scams and frauds.
The real estate sector in the country has been growing at tremendous speed, but while the industry has seen massive growth, it has also not remained untouched regarding scams and fraud.
One such alleged fraudster was a young man in his 30’s who, as far back as 2011, committed a scam of such massive proportion that it is said that he could purchase a 4,050 sq. ft, five-bedroom apartment in New York City valued at an impressive $19 million then.
Can anyone hazard a guess? We are talking about the owner and MD of BPTP, the well-known real estate firm in the Delhi- NCR region, which made national news headlines just a few days back for a stay order by NCLAT against corporate insolvency resolution, the dispute with an operational creditor, RBCL Projects.
Kabul Chawla, Owner of BPTP, makes his alleged escape!
Kabul Chawla, the owner and the MD of BPTP Limited, Business Park Town Planners, was accused of conning more than a thousand homebuyers in a fake housing project in Faridabad, Haryana, in 2011. The alleged amount of the cheating then was Rs. 400 crores.
The scammed home buyers have been fighting an endless battle for a long time now.
The first FIR was registered against the alleged BPTP Limited in January 2011 for failing to deliver plots and flats to homebuyers by 2012. Later that year, a Delhi Court issued a non-bailable warrant against Chawla.
However, as has often been the case in our country, the rich and famous seem to have all bases covered and quickly depart from the country even as the law enforcement agencies are left empty-handed. Take the case of Nirav Modi, the diamond mogul who escaped to the United Kingdom and Kingfisher’s Vijay Mallya; the Indian government is still trying to have them extirpated from the UK.
Now when we talk of the real estate baron Kabul Chawla, the case is not any different, and even after 11 years of the registration of the fraud case, the accused in this case is absconding, with some alleging that he fled the country then and settled abroad namely in New York, the big apple of the United States.
His Company, BPTP, though, is still functional and headquartered in Gurugram, while Kabul Chawla is said to be in the US.
The mounting pressure from the buyers led the company to construct another five towers in 2018, but to the horror and further anguish of the buyers, these towers had no facilities as promised by the alleged real estate company, and the buyers with no resolution in sight refused to take possession of these flats.
BPTP and the home buyers in 2019 have said to have come to an agreement that by 2020, the real estate company would complete the project and deliver the flats.
However, the same got stalled again, and construction at the project site came to a standstill since the pandemic took over.
BPTP Flourishes, The Absconder In New York?
The point to be noted here is that this project is not the only project by BPTP; in fact, the company claims that it is a major real estate player in Faridabad, Gurugram, Delhi and Noida, with several of the projects completed delivered while many as per the company are still under construction.
What is also said in whispers is that the owner Kabul Chawla is closely associated with the political figures under whose clout he was able to make his escape and still manages to operate from across the seven seas, even as his real estate construction business flourishes here in India.
In the past several years, BPTP has grown faster than any seasoned real estate giant in the country. The company’s sprawling headquarters in Gurugram is testimony to the success of BPTP, which was initially started with only 20 people.
Not Just India, But New York Too
A few years ago, Chawla’s name also came in New York Times investigation report into foreign fund flows into top-end New York real estate that revealed names of two Indian business people who have condominiums in a super luxury residential building in the US city.
Who Were The People Duped?
The investigative report says that the construction of the building for which the home buyers were duped in India is still not yet over, and the victims of the fraud, mostly retired military officers, have been done now, after ten years of protesting against the accused builder.
Meanwhile, Chawla has reportedly denied owning any house at the Time Warner Center apartment in New York City.
Chawla, born in Karnal, Haryana, is said to have strong political connections in the state. Apart from a house in Manhattan, he is also said to own a home in Lutyen Delhi’s posh Amrita Shergil Marg.
The Endless War – Home Buyers
An endless war that 330+ Buyers of BPTP Discovery Park Sect 80 Faridabad have been fighting with Kabul Chawla BPTP for nine years is still said to be not over!
According to these home buyers, all big promises are useless despite the settlement agreement and a complete loss for them even as their hard-earned money has gone to complete waste.
According to these home buyers, Towers L&M were promised to be completed by Sept 2020 and is still unlikely to be completed within the due time, and according to them, BPTP and Kabul Chawla have yet to honour the promises made.
Conclusion: It is glaringly evident that when it comes to law enforcement and legal matters, reaching a quick decision is not something that works in India.
The law in this country is only for the poor, the ordinary citizens and those with no political clout; if you are rich and have some dealings with any politically associated individual or party, things are much smoother.
The BPTP real estate company and Kabul Chawla are just the many among the affluent who have managed to dodge the legal system even as they have duped the ordinary citizens of their hard-earned money.
While those duped are fighting for justice, the alleged accused roam free and live it up!
