Serious Fraud Investigation Office vs. Heera Gold Exim Private Limited And Ors. Etc

ITEM NO.1 Court 9 (Video Conferencing) SECTION II S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 1675- 1676/2020 (Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 23-12-2019 in WP No. 5449/2019 23-12-2019 in WP No. 7950/2019 passed by the High Court For The State Of Telangana At Hyderabad) THE STATE OF TELANGANA REP BY SPECIAL OFFICER VANDHANA & ORS. Petitioner(s) VERSUS M/S HEERA GOLD EXIM PRIVATE LIMITED & ORS. Respondent(s) (ONLY I.A. NO.28969/21 IN CONNECTED WP(CRL.)-31/2020 TO BE LISTED ) WITH W.P.(Crl.) No. 31/2020 (X) IA No. 28969/2021 - EXTENSION OF BAIL IA NO.98060/2020 APPLICATION FOR BAIL IA NO.15741/2020 APPLICATION FOR STAY IA NO.14564/2021- FOR DIRECTIONS IA NO.32714/2021-PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS IA NO. 14562/2021-FOR EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. IA NO.98062/2020 APPLICATION FOR EXEMPTION FROM FILING ATTESTED AFFIDAVIT IA NO.34642/2020-IMPLEADMENT IA NO.14561/2021 –APPLICATION FOR INTERVENTION IA NO.28767/2021-INTERVENTION Date : 05-03-2021 These petitions were called on for hearing today. CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KISHAN KAUL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA For Petitioner(s) Mr. R. Basant, Sr. Adv. Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Digitally signed by ASHA SUNDRIYAL Date: 2021.03.05 18:00:03 IST Reason: Signature Not Verified

Ms. Sweena Nair, Adv.

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Mr. Sadashiv, AOR For Respondent(s) Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. A.S. Rawat, Sr. Adv. Mr. K.K. Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Sharwan Kumar Goyal, Adv. Mr. Jai Gopal Saboo, Adv. Mr. Sadashiv, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Bansal, AOR Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. A.S. Rawat, Sr. Adv. Mr. K.K. Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Bansal, AOR Mr. S.P.V. Raju, ASG Mr. Zoheb Hussain, Adv. Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Kumar, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. M.K. Maroria, AOR Mr. B. Krishna Prasad, AOR Mr. Rahul Chitnis, Adv. Mr. Sachin Patil, Adv. Mr. Aaditya A. Pande, Adv. Mr. Geo Joseph, Adv. Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR Mr. Polanki Gautham, Adv. Mr. Shaik Mohamad Haneef, Adv. Mr. T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Adv. Mr. Amitabh Sinha, Adv. Mr. Shrey Sharma, Adv. Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR Mr. Ashish Yadav, Adv. Mr. Rakshit Jain, Adv. Mr. Vishal Banshal, Adv. Mr. Abdul Jabbar Shaik, Adv. Mr. Sadineni Ravi Kumar, AOR Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR

Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR Mr. Tabrez Ahmed, Adv. Mr. Shane Elahi, Adv. Mr. Jawed Muzaffar, Adv. Mr. Shashibhushan P. Adgaonkar, AOR Mr. Ramesh Kumar Mishra, AOR

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

Application for permission to file additional documents is allowed and the documents are taken on record.

Applications for exemption from filing attested affidavit and official translation are allowed.

We have heard learned counsel for the parties and consider appropriate to issues the following directions:

1. Insofar as State of Maharashtra is concerned, it is stated that 10 cheques have been issued which have been counter signed by the authority but they are drawn on an account of HDFC Bank in Kerala which has been frozen by the Enforcement Directorate. We have already vide our order dated 19.01.2021 observed that the amounts in the frozen accounts are to be utilized for the said purpose and thus, the Enforcement Directorate must make sure that the account is de-freezed for making the payments and any further payments.

2. Insofar as State of Telengana is concerned, we fail to

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appreciate why the documents which were sought for by the petitioner from the I.O. to verify the claim of 347 investors have not been handed over. If the original documents have been filed with the charge sheet and some documents have been sent to the FSL, still copies of the documents would be available. On our query, Mr. Basant, learned senior counsel states that the copies of the documents including copies of the hard disk will be handed over within two weeks to the petitioner to facilitate her verification of the amounts.

• 3. We expect the I.O. to completely cooperate to ensure that the petitioner complies with the intent and spirit of our order dated 19.01.2021 to facilitate the settlement of the claims of the investors.
• 4. It is also pointed out to us by learned senior counsel for the petitioner that the rents which are being received from the Mall are being kept in a separate account though they would be required to settle the claim of the investors. We see no reason why those amounts should be kept in a separate account and they should also be brought to the account from which the settlement of the claim of the investors shall take place.
• 5. Learned senior counsel for the State states that the office of the petitioner is lying sealed and that she

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needs access to the office. In our view, no purpose would be served now by keeping the office indefinitely sealed and the office should accordingly be de-sealed to facilitate the petitioner to take steps as may be required as we have observed that if it is possible to run the business and facilitate the investors being satisfied, that is a course of action which would be appropriate.

6. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner states that he has also issued cheques for investors in Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The process there also will be the same as envisaged in order dated 19.01.2021.

We may note that condition Nos.1, 2 and 4 of the bail order stand complied with. Thus, in view thereof and in view of what we have said in this order, the interim bail is extended till the next date.

List on 19.04.2021.

IA NO.14561/2021 –APPLICATION FOR INTERVENTION

IA NO.28767/2021-INTERVENTION

The applicants claim to be investors. Mr. Rahul Chitnis, learned counsel for the State of Maharashtra states that verifications are in progress and the case of the applicants will also be examined.

The aforesaid statement is taken on record and the applications stand disposed of.

(ASHA SUNDRIYAL) (POONAM VAID)

ASTT. REGISTRAR-cum-PS COURT MASTER (NSH)