ARGUMENT SUMMARY - SHAHBAZ AHMED KHAN VS HEERA GROUP - DEFAMATION CASE
NOVEMBER 13, 2018
DOCUMENT: CRIMINAL PETITION 11354 OF 2018, SUBMISSIONS OF LEARNED PP IN THE BENCH OF JUSTICE SHAMIN AKHTAR
ESTABLISHING: NO RIGHT TO COLLECT MONEY AS DEPOSITS/INVESTMENTS FROM GENERAL PUBLIC
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EXERPTS FROM POINT NO. 3
E1: "The learned Public Prosecutor for the state of Telangana would submit that the respondent-accused, being the Managing Director of ‘Heera Gold Exim Limited’, collected huge deposits from number of victims with a promise to pay exorbitant rate of interest on the said deposits."
E2: "The learned Public Prosecutor further contends that the aforementioned provision of law has no application to the instant case. The respondent/accused is being proceeded under Section 5 of the TSPDFE Act. The Court of Session, relying on the provisions of Sections 212(2) and 221 of the Companies Act, 2013, granted bail to the respondent-accused, which is erroneous. Huge amount running into crores of rupees has been collected from the public by the said Company in violation of Banking Regulation Act."
EXERPTS FROM POINT NO. 4
E1: "The material placed on record reveals that the respondent/accused is the Managing Director of ‘Heera Group of Companies’, which is incorporated under the Companies Act to deal with purchase and sale of gold. The said company has no authority to collect money in the form of deposits from the public."
E2: "As per the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association of the said company, the purpose of establishment of the said company is only to buy and sell gold and share the profits derived from it among the shareholders. It has no authority/licence to collect the deposits from the pubic and pay interest thereon. Further, investigation revealed that the investors/depositors of the said company made several representations for withdrawal of the principal deposits since April, 2018 to October, 2018. About 6558 withdrawal applications amounting to Rs.167,37,15,600/- (167 crores) are pending before the Heera Group of Companies, apart from online withdrawal applications."
ARGUMENT: It should be noted that the argument of the PP in this bench of Telangana HC is in line with the accusations of defamation put up against my client, Shahbaz Ahmed Khan. That none of the companies floated by the petitioner, Nowhera Shaikh, had the right to collect deposits or investments from general public. After perusal of all submissions by the PP in this matter, Justice Shamim Akhtar agreed to this argument of the PP and ordered cancellation of bail granted to the petitioner, Nowhera Shaikh, by the sessions court.
DECEMBER 23, 2019
DOCUMENT: ORDER ON WRIT PETITION Nos. 5449 and 7950 of 2019 BY JUSTICE G. SHRI DEVI
ESTABLISHING: BAIL GRANTED BY TELANGANA HC WITH DIRECTIONS TO SETTLE CLAIMS OF COMPLAINANTS/INFORMANTS WITHIN THREE MONTHS
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PAGE NO. 48 AND ONWARDS
POINT NO 2: "The 2nd petitioner shall be released on her furnishing a personal bond for Rs.50,00,000/- (Rupees Fifty Lakhs) with two sureties to the like amount to the satisfaction of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Nampally, Hyderabad."
POINT NO 3: "The 2nd petitioner shall deposit an aggregate amount of Rs. 5,00,00,000/- (Rupees Five Crores only) before the Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Nampally, Hyderabad. The amount so deposited by the 2nd petitioner, the Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Nampally, Hyderabad, be invested in an appropriate interest bearing deposit scheme in a Nationalized Bank."
POINT NO 5: "After such appearance before the SFIO, the 2nd petitioner shall make all possible attempts to settle the claims of the concerned complainants/ informants, within a period of three months."
ARGUMENT: The Hon'ble High Court grants bail to Nowhera Shaikh only with the condition that she settles all claims of the complainants within three months. It should be noted that there has been no defense provided by the petitioner, Nowhera Shaikh, to prove legitimacy of the business module/schemes floated in public. The petitioner had only promised to settle the amounts of people from whom she has collected these huge deposits without actually having the rights to do so. It also should be noted that the petitioner has not yet submitted compliance report of having had settled these informants/complainants that the Hon'ble HC had asked her to. In case, she already has, then this court should ask for a compliance report of that to be submitted for this court's perusal, since my client Shahbaz Ahmed Khan has been accused of defamation, it would help legitimize the petitioner's claim of defamation against my client for a start.
JANUARY 13, 2021
DOCUMENT: NOWHERA SHAIKH UNDERTAKING IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
ESTABLISHING: AGREEING TO SETTLE CLAIMS IN EXCHANGE OF BAIL
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ARGUMENT: The petitioner, Nowhera Shaikh, filed an undertaking in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India on January 13, 2021, and have listed the following FIRs and has promised to pay/settle of the 26 cases filed against her (mostly under the Depositor's Act of respective states) within six weeks in case bail is granted to her.
MAHARASHTRA: Nine cases
KERALA: One case
ANDHRA PRADESH: Three cases
KARNATAKA: Four cases
TELANGANA: Nine cases
Point No. 8 in Undertaking: "That as per the Instruction of Petitioner No. 1/Accused and in compliance of this Hon'ble Court's order dated 05/01/2021 the Petitioner, hereby undertakes that the entire amount of the aforesaid claimants will be paid within six weeks, after further verification from the record, from the date of her release on bail. Provided the Petitioners have access to the records from the authorities as was seized by them. The Petitioner further undertakes that the Petitioner will, as is duty bound to, pay to all those investors who want their money back and would arrange the same at the earliest, subject to a period of 6 months as stated hereinunder."
ARGUMENT CONT: It should be noted that once again, the petitioner Nowhera Shaikh has only provided verbal and written acceptance of having illegally taken deposits/investments from general public by floating various schemes, without submitting anything to support existence of a sustainable business module or proof of proper business on ground, but only promising to settle payments of Informants/Claimants/Complainants, etc, if granted bail.
JANUARY 19, 2021
DOCUMENT: SUPREME COURT GRANTING BAIL TO NOWHERA SHAIKH DEMANDING STRICT COMPLIANCE BY THE WAY OF SETTLMENT OF ALL CLAIMANTS
ESTABLISHING: AGREEING TO SETTLE CLAIMS IN EXCHANGE OF BAIL
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POINT NO. 2: "The enlargement for six weeks is to ensure that the petitioner abides by the undertaking given through her best friend that she will meet the liabilities of all the complainants as on date i.e., cases where charge sheet has been filed or complaints have been made and this amount would be satisfied in toto."
FINAL ARGUMENT: My client has been accused of defamation and it can only be just for this hon'ble court to continue pursuing this case only after demanding that the petitioner first submits:
1. Documents and materials establishing her group of companies authority to collect deposits/investments from general public, thereby rendering all the above mentioned investigating authorities to be wrong in their assessments and investigations against the petitioners' companies/groups.
2. Documents and materials along with bank statements establishing compliance of Telangana HC order to settle claims of informants/complainants as per the Telangana HC order.
3. Documents and materials along with bank statements establishing compliance of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's order to settle all claims of informants/complainants per the Hon'ble Supreme Court's interim bail order dated January 19, 2021, along with report submitting by verify authority in the Supreme Court of India.
ARGUMENT CONT: Enforcement Directorate is pursuing cases against the petitioner and other 10 or so individuals who were responsible for operating this group of companies under the banner Heera Group, being: MP-PMLA-8269/HYD/2021 (E.H.), MP-PMLA-7824/HYD/2020 (COD), and FPA-PMLA-3786/HYD/2020.
ARGUMENT CONT: Income Tax has submitted a report on the petitioner's company Heera Group, putting forward an Income Tax demand of Rs. 3461 crores (three thousand four hundred and sixty one crores) after submitting an Assessment Order passed against the petitioner's company. This is accepted and also submitted by the petitioner's herself in the Supreme Court of India on March 12, 2022.
ARGUMENT CONT: Serious Fraud Investigation Office (Delhi) has recently submitted their Investigation Report to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, also submitted a sealed copy to the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India per their affidavit dated August 25, 2022, in Criminal Appeal Nos 761-762/2021 and WP Crl. No. 31 of 2020.
