Nearly nine years after they tried to fraudulently sell a house in Sector 20-A, Chandigarh, a local court on Tuesday sentenced two men to three-year rigorous imprisonment.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹5,000 each on the two convicts, Rajneesh Chaudhary and Ravi Gulati.
According to the prosecution, the duo, along with other accused, had taken ₹70 lakh as earnest money for the sale of the house from victims Rattan Lal and Joginder Kumar Nagpal, residents of Sector 19 and Sector 27, respectively.
But later, the victims, through the UT Estate Office, found that the house had already been sold to a London-based NRI, following which they filed a complaint with the Chandigarh SSP in 2013.
A cheating case was registered at the Manimajra police station, and Chaudhary and Gulati were arrested. Two other accused, Parminder Pal Walia and Ajay Ghai, remain absconding.
During trial, Chaudhary and Gulati claimed that they were being falsely implicated. However, the prosecution examined 14 witnesses to prove the crime and the duo was convicted.