A chef-turned-builder, who allegedly cheated around 3,000 investors of Rs 25 crore by promising residential plots in Navi Mumbai, has been arrested from Mumbai, police said today.
Ashley Noel Concessio (42), who entered real estate sector after a stint as a chef and marketing man, was apprehended from Andheri (East) on Monday by Economic Offences Wing (EOW).
Concessio had floated a residential plots project Pragati Valley in Navi Mumbai through his firm in 2005.
He allegedly sold around 5,000 plots with the help of marketing agents in Delhi collecting Rs 25 crores from the investors, Joint Commissioner of Police (EoW) Sandeep Goel said.
"However, he later reneged on the deal and fled without refunding investors money. We had received around 400 complaints against him," he said.
Concessio who was born and brought up in Bandra, Mumbai had worked as a Chef in Kuwait for two year and jumped into Real Estate sector in 2005 after coming back to Mumbai.
He started a proprietorship firm in the name of Pragati Land and Housing Corporation which purchased some land in Karzat near Navi Mumbai for the project Pragati Valley.
However, Maharastra government did not give necessary approvals regarding change of land use for the residential project. As the project could not come up, he sold the land and fled away, Goel said.
A large number of complaints were lodged against him and cops were looking for him. After many raids in Mumbai and Pune, Ashley was finally arrested on Monday from Andheri (East), Mumbai, police said.
