ED arrests Hyderabad Ponzi scheme accused from Gurugram
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has arrested Nowhera Shaik, the prime accused in the Heera Group-linked alleged investment fraud in Hyderabad, from an Airbnb property in Gurugram.
Shaik was arrested on Thursday during a joint operation conducted by the ED and the Haryana Police at the facility in Sector 45, Gurugram.
The ED said in a statement that she was living in Gurugram under a “fake” identity, using “forged” documents (Aadhaar) in the name of Shaik Khamar Jahan. She was apprehended from an Airbnb property along with an associate, Sameer Khan, it added.
The agency said Shaik was taken to Hyderabad on Friday and produced before a special PMLA court that sent her to judicial custody.
Shaik, the Heera Group of Companies and others allegedly collected more than Rs 5,978 crore from the public, promising returns exceeding 36 per cent per annum. However, they failed to return even the principal amount, thereby duping more than 1.72 lakh gullible investors of Rs 3,000 crore, the ED said.
The agency said Shaik was “evading” investigation and arrest in the case since the Supreme Court recently cancelled her bail after taking “serious note of her conduct during which she misled” the apex court.
A special court in Hyderabad dealing with cases lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) issued a non-bailable warrant against her on May 7, but she was not traceable at her Hyderabad and Bengaluru addresses, the ED said.
An intelligence input indicated she was in Gurugram, it added. The federal agency had attached assets worth Rs 428 crore in the case and obtained a green signal from the Supreme Court to auction the properties so that the funds derived from those can be restituted to the victims in accordance with a PMLA provision.
Some of the properties were successfully auctioned, fetching about Rs 122 crore, according to the ED.
However, Shaik failed to cooperate in the execution of sale deeds in favour of successful bidders and made repeated attempts to obstruct the auction proceedings, the agency alleged.
