Want a star neighbour?

Raipur, Sept. 13: His desire was a piece of real estate beside tinsel town’s best known address, but it led to businessman Umesh Agrawal getting robbed of lakhs.

Raipur-based Umesh Agrawal who paid lakhs to one Asim Sehgal of Bhilai for a plot near Shah Rukh Khan’s Mumbai bungalow, Mannat, recently lodged an FIR at Raipur police station against Sehgal.

The police, in turn, have detained Sehgal for collecting Rs 7.2 lakh as “advance payment”.

Agrawal met Sehgal in January 2008 after which the deal was struck. Sehgal later accompanied the Raipur trader to Mumbai where he introduced him to one Puri, an owner of 2000-square-feet of land near SRK’s sprawling Bandra bungalow. Puri and Sehgal even took Agrawal to the “site”.

The deal was finalised while the price was still on negotiation table. However, to seal the deal, Sehgal collected two instalments of Rs 50,000 from Agrawal on January 23, 2008. The amount was paid by cheques issued from the State Bank of India and in favour of a Mumbai-based firm for developers and promoters.

In his complaint, Agrawal has alleged that till June 28, 2008, Sehgal had collected Rs 7.2 lakh from him. However, the so-called promoter delayed handing over the property papers to Agrawal, who eventually asked the man to return the money. It was then that Sehgal revealed he had spent “all the money on his daughter’s wedding”.

“We have detained Sehgal and are interrogating him,” said additional superintendent of police Rajnesh Singh. The police are yet to make a formal arrest in the case, as Sehgal has been insisting that he will return the money by June.

Sources said that during interrogation, Sehgal tried to misguide the police team consistently. Primarily he introduced himself as a builder from Mumbai, but later on “revealed” that he was from New Delhi.

But a small desire to have a star neighbour has made Agrawal pay through his nose. Three years ago, he came to Raipur from Bilaspur’s Pendra Road to start an herbal company. He is already in debts for his SRK dream and his business was reportedly hit.

Agrawal had now started a new unit to stabilise his financial condition.