Chandigarh, April 9 (IANS): In a major breakthrough in the multi-crore Nature Heights Infra Scam, Punjab Police on Tuesday said that they have arrested the main accused, Neeraj Thathai, alias Neeraj Arora, who was absconding for the past nine years and was declared a proclaimed offender.

He was arrested from the Poudi district in Uttrakhand. The modus operandi used by the accused to collect the huge amount of money was to lure innocent people in lieu of giving them residential and commercial plots.

The development comes close on the heels of the arrest of Amandeep Kamboj, alias Aman Skoda, of Fazilka, who was proclaimed offender in eight cases, and in 18 cases he jumped bail. He was arrested from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on March 15.

Inspector General of Police (Faridkot) Gursharan Singh Sandhu and Deputy Inspector General (Ferozepur) Ranjit Singh Dhillon, in a joint press conference, said police teams from both the districts headed by Senior Superintendent (Investigation) Pardeep Sandhu arrested the most wanted criminal Neeraj Arora from Shri Nagar Garhwal in Uttrakhand.

Police teams have also recovered one luxury BMW car, mobile phones and fake documents from the possession of accused Arora.

Sandhu said the accused has been facing 108 first information reports (FIRs) registered in 21 districts for defrauding people by promising money or plots to people in the state.

Of a total of 108 FIRs, 47 were registered in Fazilka, eight in Ferozepur, six each in Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib, five each in Rupnagar, Mohali and SAS Nagar; four each in Faridkot, Sri Muktsar Sahib and Jalandhar Commissionerate.

Accused Arora, arrested by the police in February 2016, had jumped bail and was declared a proclaimed offender in February 2017.