A 63-year-old former JNU employee was arrested for allegedly duping professors of the varsity and IIT Delhi of more than ₹ 11 crore on the pretext of providing affordable housing project under the guise of DDA’s purported land-pooling policy, police said on Wednesday.

The accused has been identified as PD Gaikwad, a resident of Gurugram in Haryana, they said.

It was alleged that in 2015, Gaikwad, who was working as a scientific officer at the university’s School of Environmental Sciences, formed the Noble Socio-Scientific Welfare Organisation (NSSWO) claiming to provide affordable housing, police said.

He allegedly made a presentation and lured them to become members of the organisation. In his capacity as the president of the organisation, Gaikwad provided them details of a proposed housing project under DDA’s purported land-pooling policy for which he said the NSSWO was in the process of procuring land in the proposed L-Zone, a senior police officer said.

The complainants became members of the NSSWO and booked units in the proposed project. The complainants paid membership fees and payments for their flats, police said.

On November 1, 2015, the accused took them to show a piece of land in the L-Zone, Najafgarh. However, he did not show any document supporting the purchase of the land. Over the years, they came to realise that he was allegedly cheating them, the officer said.