About 20 employees were abruptly laid off by Homes Connect Developers, a Noida-based real estate firm in Sector 64, after they reportedly refused to accept salary in the devalued notes.
The sacked employees then approached Sector 71 police station and registered a complaint.
Ankit Sharma, a complainant, told City Spidey that salary for October was paid in the banned notes, and the employees were okay with it. But now, the builder has been pressurising them to accept the same even for the months of November and December. "We refused! So the builder terminated our services," he complained.
When City Spidey contacted Vineet Aggarwal, marketing head of the firm, he refused to accept the fact that the laid-off employees belonged to the company -- let alone the claim that the realtor was trying to pay them in the banned notes.
Aggarwal further added that the sacked staff was hired by Deepak Bhalla, the owner of Divine Heights, the firm's brokerage partner.
He reinforced, "Our company had given an advance commission of Rs 1,75,000 to Divine Heights, but they failed to sell any property in the last two months. We only provide them office space; our company simply gives them a commission on every sale."
But Bhalla categorically refuted the above claims.
Bhalla said the firm was fabricating the entire story, and all the sacked employees, who approached the police station, had the realtor's ID cards with them.
Umed Singh Yadav, SHO, Phase III police station, said the builder was called in for questioning after the employees lodged a complaint.
He further assured that the police would carry out an investigation, and if the builder was found to be guilty strict action would be initiated against him.