ED searches firm connected to Nowhera Shaik

Hyderabad: The sleuths of Enforcement directorate, Hyderabad zone, conducted searches in the office and residence of Syed Akhtar, owner of S A Builders & Developers in connection with the Nowhera case.

According to the sleuths, the firm had received over Rs 50 Crore from the accounts of Nowhera Shaik and showed no cooperation with the investigative agency. The searches which began on early March 10th, is likely to continue the following day, officials said.

Earlier, ED officials attached assets of Nowhera Shaik of M/s Heera Group of Companies and others spread across multiple states worth ₹ 299.99 Crore under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a Ponzi fraud case.

The attached assets consisting of 96 immovable properties located in Telangana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh worth ₹ 277.29 Crore in the form of agricultural lands, commercial plots, residential buildings, commercial complexes and balances in bank A/cs worth ₹22.69 Crore.

ED initiated investigations under PMLA on the basis of FIRs registered by Central Crime Station, Hyderabad. According to the complaint, M/s Heera Group of Companies and others are alleged of illegally collecting deposits from lakhs of investors under the guise of high returns.

There are multiple FIRs registered across the country against Heera Group of Companies. During the course of an investigation under PMLA, it is revealed that Nowhera Shaik incorporated multiple companies under M/s Heera Group of Companies and collected an amount of approximately ₹ 5600 Crore as unauthorized deposits from around 1,72,000 investors (IBG Members) across the country by engaging a network of marketing executives and direct selling agents with a false promise of paying a high rate of returns, that is 3% per month (36% per year).

'The accused floated multiple schemes and extensively advertised the schemes to lure the victims. For this purpose, Nowhera Shaik started 24 firms/entities under Heera Group and 182 bank accounts were opened in different banks at different parts of the countries in the name of these 24 entities' officials said.

Further 10 bank accounts were also opened in foreign countries such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, for collecting these deposits, Nowhera Shaik does not possess any valid permission either under Banking Regulation Act, Companies Act, RBI Act or from any other government.