In a bid to evade police action in multiple property fraud cases, a Panchkula man allegedly went to the extent of getting a missing person complaint registered against himself at Sector 7 police station. However, the economic offences wing (EOW) eventually tracked him down and arrested him for allegedly cheating people of crores of rupees through forged agreements to sell.

EOW in-charge Tejinder Pal Singh said that the accused’s father had lodged a missing person report for him to evade the police.

The accused, identified as Anmol Arora, a resident of Sector 8, Panchkula, allegedly gained people’s trust by claiming close connections with some of the city’s well-known property dealers. He would lure people into investing in property deals using forged agreements to sell and make money through fraudulent transactions, police said.

The case was registered on May 15, 2026, at Sector 7 police station on the complaint of a Panchkula woman under Sections 318(4), 336(3), 338, 340(2) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). She alleged that the accused had cheated her of around ₹81 lakh on the pretext of a property purchase by preparing a forged agreement to sell.

Police said three other cases involving similar allegations were also registered against Arora at Sector 7 police station. The investigation has revealed that he allegedly cheated around 15 people in Panchkula district of nearly ₹7 crore. Several other complaints of fraud against him are also pending investigation.

In a bid to avoid police action, the accused had allegedly gone a step further and got a missing person case registered against himself at Sector 7 police station, creating an impression that he had disappeared.

The EOW team, however, arrested him during its investigation. He was produced before a court on Monday, which remanded him in five-day police custody for further questioning and investigation into other alleged fraud cases.