70,000 People Trapped in Rs.2,676 Cr Dholera Scam!
Two brothers ran a Rs.2,676 crore land scam in Gujarat’s Dholera, cheating around 70,000 investors by falsely promising property in a smart city project.
ISH News has often reported on scams happening around the world, and sadly, such cases are increasing very fast. In a recent shocking case, two brothers and their team cheated around 70,000 people and took around ?2,676 crore from them.
It all started in 2014, when Ranveer Bijarniya bought land in Dholera, Gujarat. Later, his brother Subhash Bijarniya, a retired Army officer, also bought land worth ?30 lakhs. In 2021, both brothers registered a company named Nexa Evergreen in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Dholera is a city around 100 km from Ahmedabad and is part of a major government project called the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR). The Indian and Gujarat governments plan to turn Dholera into India’s first greenfield smart city, with modern roads, industries, homes, and technology. This made many people believe that investing in Dholera would bring good profits.
Using this opportunity, Nexa Evergreen claimed to be part of the Dholera Smart City project and said they owned 1,300 bighas of land. In Gujarat, one bigha usually equals around 17,424 square feet or 0.4 acres, but this can vary in different parts of India.
The company promised affordable land and flats in Dholera, attracting people from Gujarat and Rajasthan. Subhash and Ranveer Bijarniya, along with their team, collected money from around 62,000 to 70,000 investors, promising high returns and ownership of property. Some early investors were given small plots, which made the company look trustworthy.
However, doubts began when people did not receive the promised land or flats. There were delays, missing documents, and problems with land ownership verification. Some people even visited Dholera and found that the land either didn’t exist or was owned by someone else. As complaints increased, company offices started shutting down and payments stopped.
Angry investors started filing police complaints, which led to an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Authorities found that the Bijarniya brothers had paid ?1,500 crore as commission to agents, and had bought land using fake money, but registered it in the names of their drivers and servants. Even when the police started seizing assets, they kept changing land ownership online to hide their fraud.
Official records show that while ?2,676 crore was collected, only ?1,485 crore was returned to some investors. More than ?932 crore remained unpaid. The fraud money was used to buy luxury cars, mines, hotels in Rajasthan, flats in Ahmedabad, and 25 resorts in Goa. They also took ?250 crore in cash and transferred the rest to 27 fake (shell) companies.
Shockingly, the brothers targeted ex-servicemen, police officers, and retired officials, promising secure income and safe investments. One police report said that more than 500 ex-servicemen lost ?200 crore in this scam. The company even manipulated its software to hide the real financial data.
On 12th June 2025, the ED raided 24 locations in Rajasthan and Gujarat under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). They froze 10 bank accounts and seized ?15 crore, in addition to the earlier seizure of ?2.04 crore.
Legal action is ongoing, with more than 12 people arrested, including Subhash and Ranveer Bijarniya and their close associates. The case is one of India’s biggest property frauds and a strong reminder to always verify land and property deals carefully.
