Landowners of villages around Gurgaon, who made big bucks during the realty boom and moved into the newly-developed townships in Gurgaon city, are learning this the hard way.
NEW DELHI: Money can’t buy friends, but it certainly can get you a good lot of enemies. Landowners of villages around Gurgaon, who made big bucks during the realty boom and moved into the newly-developed townships in Gurgaon city, are learning this the hard way.
Azad Singh Yadav, father of the prime accused in the recent Gurgaon school shootout case, is a victim of this “jinx”. Yadav, who, natives of his Bamdoli village say, has gathered “enormous wealth through land deals”, lost his nephew, Rinku, in a daylight shootout. Rinku’s family reportedly failed to honour an extortion demand.
There are many like Yadav. Satnam Singh Kheema (60), who sold his land “for a few million”, says, “The realty boom has made us rich, but also sleepless. It has spelled doom.”
Kheema of Badshahpur village shifted to the jazzy Malibu Town in Gurgaon city about a year ago. The transition brought with it fears of being robbed of the money he made through land deals. “Ab toh neend hi nahi aati hai,” he says.
Though Gurgaon Police deny rise in extortion demands and housebreaks, sources claim there has been an estimated 35 per cent increase in such cases in less than three years. “With the sudden rise in realty prices, many people have become rich overnight. A rise in extortion and related crimes was inevitable,” says a senior police officer.
On December 18 last year, the dreaded Kaushal gang gunned town three people at the busy Rajiv Chowk adjoining the Gurgaon Police Commissionerate. Though police claim it was gang war, some officers do not rule out the extortion angle.
Residents of the swanky townships in Gurgaon confess with money coming in post the realty boom, security concerns have risen. “Local gangs are ruling the roost. Police may claim anything but we are suffering. There was a series of housebreaks a few months ago, we don’t yet know whether the culprits have been nabbed or not,” said Vikram Ahlawat of Richmond Park.
y_puneet@dnaindia.net
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