Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate on Friday attached 96 immovable properties based in Telangana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh worth Rs 277.29 crore and movable assets of Rs 22.69 crore totaling Rs 299,99,16,291 under PMLA 2002
complexes and bank balances.
ED initiated investigations under PMLA on the basis of FIRs registered by Central Crime Station, Hyderabad, Telangana & Andhra Pradesh Police against Nowhera Shaik of M/s Heera Group of Companies and related others on the allegation of illegally collecting deposits from lacs of investors under the guise of very high returns. Multiple FIRs have been registered by the aggrieved depositors across the country against Heera Group of Companies.
During the course of investigation, it is revealed that Nowhera Shaik incorporated multiple companies under Heera Group of Companies and collected an amount of approximately Rs 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 high rate of returns i.e. 3% per month (36% per year). She 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. Further 10 bank accounts were also opened in foreign countries such as UAE, Saudi Arabia etc. 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 govt. agency such as SEBI etc for collecting deposits.
She started Gold, Food & Textile trading businesses only to create the impression that she earning legitimate profits, but in reality, the payouts to the new members were simply being funded from the cash flows generated from new members/investments. The volume of business in her Gold, Textile and Food marts was miniscule and not sufficient to justify the high returns promised by her.
Nowhera Shaik along with her family members and close associates diverted the depositor’s money to their personal accounts and amassed huge movable and immovable assets for wrongful personal gain. The diverted funds were further layered into various shell companies and in the form of benami assets so as to ultimately cheat lacs of innocent victims and to launder these crime proceeds for personal benefit.
NSS