HC refuses relief to man given 182-yr term for defrauding 344 homebuyers

IN 1998, MITTAL WAS SENTENCED TO 182 YEARS JAIL FOR DEFRAUDING BUYERS—1 YR IN 20 CASES, 6 MONTHS IN 324, ALL CASES RUNNING CONSECUTIVELY.

- Shruti Kakkar

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has refused to grant relief to a 75-year-old former director of a property firm facing an extraordinary 182-year prison sentence for defrauding 344 homebuyers, upholding the authority of a consumer forum to impose multiple consecutive jail terms in a landmark case.

In a verdict delivered on May 30 and released Monday, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna dismissed the plea of Rajender Mittal, a director of Tirupati Builders Pvt Ltd, who had sought modification of the sentence imposed by a district consumer court. The court in 1995 had convicted Mittal for failing to refund booking amounts collected from buyers promised plots in a proposed residential colony—Tirupati Township—on Delhi's Baghpat Road.

The Tirupati Township Plot Holders Association, representing over 300 homebuyers, accused Mittal and his co-director Rakesh Kumar Sharma of collecting ₹90.79 lakh for plots that were never delivered.