ED Attach Assets Worth 71 Crore In 32nd Avenue Group

The glittering lights of 32nd Avenue in Sector 15, Gurugram, once promised a New York-style lifestyle of premium dining, retail and entertainment.

Investors, many of them doctors, retirees and professionals, poured in their hard-earned savings believing they were buying secure commercial units backed by long-term leases and high fixed rental returns.

What followed, according to multiple police First Information Reports and Enforcement Directorate findings, was a systematic pattern of alleged multiple sales of the same spaces, temporary rental payments designed to build trust, and then sudden defaults that left families reeling. The estimated scale of the proceeds of crime exceeds ₹500 crore. As of August 2026 no final criminal convictions have been recorded, yet the documented actions of the group and its promoters have already inflicted lasting financial and emotional damage on those who trusted the project.

Dhruv Dutt Sharma, approximately 34 years old and a Gurugram native who studied at Boston University, rose to prominence after earlier founding a vacation-rental platform. He was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list around 2018 and took charge as founder, chief executive and managing director of the 32nd Avenue project from 2015.

His father Anubhav Sharma, a long-time figure associated with the original 32nd Milestone complex, was seen by many investors as a source of credibility. Mamta Sharma and Shirin Sharma were also named in the proceedings. All four were reported in judicial custody in the predicate criminal cases by mid-2026. The group operated through entities that included 32nd Milestone Vistas Private Limited, formerly linked to the partnership firm Apra Motels, and Growth Hospitality LLP.

The historical trajectory of the project began with Apra Motels, a partnership firm operating at the 32nd Milestone Complex on the Delhi-Jaipur Bypass since around 1989 or 1990. It offered hotel rooms, restaurants, a discotheque, bowling, go-karting and other amenities. Over time the site evolved into a commercial hub marketed as a premium destination.

In October 2023 the firm was converted into 32nd Vistas Private Limited with a substantial capital base and the Sharma family listed as directors. Growth Hospitality LLP, incorporated in 2016 with its office at the same complex and partners including Dhruv Dutt Sharma and Shirin Sharma, became the vehicle for lease-back arrangements.

According to the Enforcement Directorate and Gurugram Police Economic Offences Wing, the alleged modus operandi was organised and systematic. Investors were approached with offers of commercial units carrying promises of long-term leases lasting up to 30 years, fixed rental returns often quoted at ₹400 to ₹600 per square foot, buy-back options and periodic increases. In numerous cases possession was never handed over or was later taken back. The same commercial spaces, sometimes described as virtual spaces, were sold or leased to multiple parties after unit numbers, areas or layouts were altered.

One documented instance involved a roughly 3,000 square foot first-floor unit for which Traum Ventures Private Limited entered an agreement in 2021 for approximately ₹2.5 crore. Later checks allegedly revealed conveyance deeds for the same floor executed in favour of around 25 other individuals between 2022 and 2023. The spaces were then taken back on long-term leases under Growth Hospitality LLP. Initial rental payments continued for one or two years, creating an appearance of reliability, before stopping abruptly.

Police recorded statements from at least 36 to 50 complainants in the early phase, with estimates of the total number of affected persons ranging into the hundreds. Investors described pouring life savings into what they believed were secure assets. Many stopped receiving the promised monthly income from around September or October of the previous year.

Protests erupted outside the complex, with demonstrators chanting against Dhruv Dutt Sharma and demanding their money back. Letters were sent to district officials and even the Prime Minister’s Office. A Delhi court at Saket sought a police action-taken report on a plea by an investor who alleged non-payment of rentals, failure to deposit TDS from September 2024, defaults on GST, ESI and PF, and diversion of funds.

The first significant FIR was registered on 2 January 2026 at Kherki Daula or Civil Lines police stations on the complaint of Traum Ventures. Additional FIRs followed, reaching at least five by early February, under sections of the Indian Penal Code covering cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and criminal conspiracy.

Dhruv Dutt Sharma was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing in early February 2026, produced before a court and remanded to police custody for six days. Anubhav Sharma, Mamta Sharma and Shirin Sharma were subsequently taken into judicial custody. Preliminary questioning reports indicated that conveyance deeds had not been executed in certain cases and that the same spaces had been sold multiple times.

The Enforcement Directorate registered a money-laundering investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on the basis of these FIRs. On 13 and 14 April 2026 searches were conducted at seven premises across Delhi-NCR, Goa, Jaipur and Mumbai. Cash of approximately ₹1.05 crore, gold bullion and jewellery worth about ₹1.5 crore, documents and digital devices were seized. Certain bank accounts and lockers were frozen. High-end residences and a yacht or inland vessel in Goa were identified among the properties linked to the group.

On 19 August 2026 the Directorate provisionally attached assets worth ₹71.60 crore. The attachment covered 76 immovable properties, including commercial units in Gurugram and land or properties in Goa and Maharashtra, together with 38 movable assets consisting of bank balances and an inland vessel. Investigation materials stated that proceeds of crime exceeding ₹500 crore had been generated by diverting investor funds and layering them through a network of more than 50 companies and LLPs, many operating from common or non-functional addresses. Funds were traced to acquisitions in Goa and Maharashtra.

Additional complaints within the same set of cases alleged misrepresentation of unit areas, sale of properties already mortgaged to banks, and non-payment of statutory dues that affected not only investors but also employees and government revenues. Early financial analysis pointed to siphoning of funds to locations including Goa and Neemrana. A CARE Ratings assessment of 32nd Vistas Private Limited in late 2025 had earlier highlighted the promoters’ experience and the group’s Goa projects, only to later place certain facilities under the issuer-not-cooperating category after a rating downgrade.

The human cost is visible in the accounts of those who came forward. Retirees who believed they had secured a steady income stream for their remaining years found themselves without the promised rentals. Doctors and professionals who invested substantial sums discovered that the units they thought they owned had been conveyed to others.

The temporary payment of rentals for a limited period served, according to investigators, to create false confidence before the flow of money stopped. Possession remained elusive for many. The same floor sold repeatedly meant that genuine delivery of exclusive ownership was impossible. The use of lease-back arrangements through Growth Hospitality LLP allowed the group to retain operational control while extracting capital from successive sets of buyers.

A separate civil recovery suit filed by the proprietor of a tour and travels business against Apra Motels and its partners, including Anubhav Sharma and Dhruv Dutt Sharma, sought roughly ₹25.25 lakh plus interest for unpaid services. The Delhi District Court proceeded with the claim after mediation failed. This commercial dispute sits alongside the larger criminal and money-laundering probes but underscores a pattern of unpaid obligations.

The project’s earlier reputation as a popular destination and the goodwill associated with Anubhav Sharma encouraged many to invest without sufficient independent verification. The conversion of the long-standing partnership firm into a private limited company with substantial capital in 2023 coincided with the period when multiple conveyances of the same units were allegedly executed. The network of more than 50 entities used for layering funds further complicated any attempt by investors to recover their money through ordinary civil processes.

As of August 2026 the matters remain under investigation. The key individuals are in judicial custody in the predicate cases. The Enforcement Directorate’s provisional attachment of ₹71.60 crore stands, yet no final trial judgments or completed confiscation orders have been reported.

Investor claims of lost savings and vanished rentals form the core of the complaints and continue to await adjudication. The documented sequence of multiple FIRs, arrests, multi-city searches, substantial seizures and large-scale asset attachments paints a picture of an alleged scheme that systematically extracted capital from ordinary people while the commercial complex continued to operate under the same brand that once inspired confidence.

The pain inflicted is not abstract. It is measured in depleted retirement funds, delayed medical treatments, disrupted family plans and the daily anxiety of those who still await either their units or their money. The pattern of temporary payments followed by abrupt cessation, repeated sales of identical spaces, and the subsequent diversion of funds through a web of entities has left a trail of financial wreckage that official agencies are still mapping.

Whether the ongoing proceedings will deliver restitution remains to be determined by the courts. What is already clear from the public record is the scale of the alleged harm and the length of the investigative trail that now stretches from the brightly lit corridors of Sector 15 to properties in distant states and the custody cells of Gurugram.