In a major breakthrough in the multi-crore Nature Heights Infra Ltd scam, a joint team of the Faridkot and Fazilka police arrested main accused Neeraj Thatai, alias Neeraj Arora, who had been absconding for the past nine years and had been declared a proclaimed offender (PO), from Pauri district in Uttarakhand.

The firm, Nature Heights Infra Ltd, was being run by the Abohar-based Thatai couple. The accused collected crores of rupees after luring investors by offering cheaper residential and commercial plots in prime locations in Chandigarh, Mohali, Zirakpur, Anandpur Sahib, Ferozepur, Talwara besides other towns of Punjab. One fine day, the company shut its offices and branches and the promoters went underground. Later, it surfaced that most of the colonies awaited government approval. The company neither allotted the plots nor returned the money, while the cheques it issued bounced.

The action against Thatai comes close on the heels of the arrest of Amandeep Kamboj, alias Aman Skoda of Fazilka, who was a proclaimed offender in eight cases and who had jumped bail in 18 cases. He was arrested by the Fazilka police from Varanasi on March 15.

Luxury car, phones, fake papers recovered

Addressing a joint press conference on Tuesday, Faridkot range inspector general Gursharan Singh Sandhu and Ferozepur range deputy inspector general Ranjit Singh Dhillon said that police teams from both the districts headed by Fazilka SP, investigation, Pardeep Singh Sandhu and Faridkot DSP (narcotics) Iqbal Singh Sandhu under the supervision of Faridkot SSP Harjit Singh his Fazilka counterpart Pragya Jain arrested Thatai from Srinagar, Garhwal, in Pauri district.

The police team recovered a BMW car, mobile phones and fake documents from Arora.

Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav took to X to congratulate the joint team on Tuesday.

Gursharan Singh Sandhu said that the accused faced 108 first information reports (FIRs) registered in 21 districts of Punjab for defrauding people by promising money for plots. Of the 108 FIRs, 47 were registered in Fazilka; eight in Ferozepur, six each in Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib; five each in Rupnagar and Mohali; four each in Faridkot, Muktsar and Jalandhar commissionerate.

Declared PO in 2017

Thatai was arrested by Fazilka police in February 2016 too, but he jumped bail and was declared a PO in February 2017. At present, the accused is a PO in 92 cases.

The Enforcement Directorate had also registered cases and attached his properties, while many writ petitions filed by victims are pending against him in the Punjab and Haryana high court.

DIG Dhillon said that the accused was using fake IDs to evade arrest. He owns 1,200 acres and 200 flats in Punjab and Madhya Pradesh worth more than ₹1,000 crore, he said.

The Faridkot and Fazilka police have arrested 211 POs so far in 2024. They comprise 150 POs caught by Fazilka police and 61 POs by the Faridkot police.