Justice Nitin R Borkar, Bombay High Court.
The Bombay High Court on February 10, 2023 granted anticipatory bail to an “employee” of the Heera Group in defrauding of investors case registered at Azad Nagar Police Station with CR No 138/2018 under Sections 406, 409, 420 read with 34 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Besides, Section 3 of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act, 1999 was also slapped in the case. A copy of the order was uploaded on the HC website on March 03, 2023.
Last year, fearing arrest the applicant Ansari Abuzar Mohammed Yusuf approached the Bombay HC seeking anticipatory bail after his name cropped up in the case. Over a period of time, he accepted money from investors on behalf of the Heera Group. In the bail order, the HC observed that the state in its affidavit-in-reply stated Ansari received Rs 12,08,317 out of total defrauded amount.
“In his rejoinder, the applicant has not disputed the receipt of the said amount. He has stated that he received the said amount as salary as an employee of the Heera Group over a period of three years,” the HC observed. A single judge bench of Justice Nitin R Borkar after hearing his argument allowed Ansari’s anticipatory bail plea.
The HC has asked the applicant to execute a personal bond of Rs 25,000 with one or two sureties in the like amount. The country’s leading investigating agencies have alleged Heera Group had been running a nation-wide ponzi scam running into several hundred crores of rupees.
Investors have also come forward by fling reports of losing their hard-earned money in the alleged scam. However, the Hyderabad-based group has persistently denied this claim saying it had been running an interest-free gold business.
The Voice of Malegaon spoke by phone to the police officer who investigated the case (CR No 138/2018) back in 2018. The officer who was with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Nashik Rural, at that time said the total value of the defrauded amount was around Rs 1.16 crore at the time of filing of the chargesheet. “And around 25-27 investors had come forward and lodged a report with the police,” he said.
