17 hours Ago
Representative photo NEW DELHI: Supreme Court has allowed Enforcement Directorate to auction two properties worth around Rs 200 crore belonging to Heera Gold Exim Private Limited ’s managing director Nowhera Shaik who is accused of cheating investors in a ponzi scheme . The order by a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan was welcomed by ED that has initiated the process for restitution of properties to the victims to ensure “substantive justice is met to investors who were duped in the fraudulent investment scheme”. The SC allowed the auction after Shaik came forward with a proposal to dispose of her assets.
She gave a list of three properties — Naina Towers located in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad and having a market value of Rs 90 crore, Heera Foodex worth Rs 120 crore, and Heera Retail (Hyderabad) Pvt Ltd worth Rs 753 crore. The court, however, allowed the sale of only the first two properties as some documents of the third were missing. “We direct ED to put both the properties to auction in accordance with law.
..We permit ED to proceed further with issuance of auction notice in accordance with law after fixing an offset price.
The offset price shall be fixed after obtaining a report from a govt-approved valuer,” the bench said. Granting her three months more time to surrender in the case, the bench directed her to deposit Rs 25 crore with the agency. The court had earlier quashed her bail.
The court also directed her to furnish full, correct and complete details of her encumbrance free properties, which would also be put under the hammer to raise money for paying back the investors. Shaik has been asked to give the details within a period of two weeks. “Once the information with regard to other properties free from all encumbrances is furnished to ED, it shall proceed further at the earliest to put those properties also to auction and try to recover the maximum amount,” the SC said.
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