A Hyderabad court, which heard the petition of the Central Crime Station (CCS) for the police custody of controversial Heera Group chairperson Nowhera Shaikh as well as a bail petition filed by her on Wednesday, severely reprimanded for not following the correct procedure in registering FIR against her. Metropolitan Sessions Judge found fault with police for its shoddy investigation and booking a case under Telangana Deposits of Financial Establishment Act and Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme against a public limited company.
Hyderabad police had arrested Nowhera Shaikh last week on the complaints of some of the depositors of her company alleging the company had cheated them.
The CCS which is investigating the case had sought ten day police custody of Nowhera Shaikh who is the managing director of Heera Group of companies.
Significantly the judge asked the police to show the prima facie case and the basic grounds of filing a case against her. On the allegations that Heera group of companies had failed in paying dividends to its investors, the judge wanted to see the proof of the company not paying dividends for the last one year. Pointing out that the company was registered under the Registrar of Companies Act judge asked the police why the case was registered against it under some other act.
Defense counsel Vineet Dhanda argued that the case was registered as a political vendetta against Nowhera Shaikh as she had launched a political party All India Mahila Empowerment party and her opponents were scared of her fame and popularity.
The court premises saw a lot of jostling between the angry depositors of company and the bouncers who accompanied the company officials to the court. The depositors were shouting slogans opposing bail to Nowhera Shaikh. The court was likely to pass the orders on both the petitions later on Wednesday evening.