Hyderabad: The Heera Group of Companies’ Chairperson, Nowhera Shaik, on Wednesday appealed to the High Court to release her from prison so that she could pay the dues to the depositors of the Heera Group and said that she was ready to pay to the last penny.
Explaining that she had never thought of cheating the depositors, Ms Nowhera, through her counsel, made a submission to the court that she would pay the dues to the depositors, within three months after her release from prison.
Justice Ghandikota Sri Devi was dealing with the three petitions by the Nowhera and Heera Gold Exim private Ltd, stating that the state police had no jurisdiction to investigate and to take her into custody, as the Central Government agency Serious Fraud Investigation Office was carrying out the investigation under the rules of the Companies Act.
Ms Nowhera Shaik complained that she was intentionally detained in jail by the Telangana police since October 15, 2018 by slapping several cases on her, one after another for the same offence with different complaints at various places.
Mr P. Venugopal, senior counsel representing the Nowhera and Heera Group, submitted that his client was ready to give an undertaking that she would keep her promise to pay the dues within three months, failing which the court could take action under ‘contempt of court’.
The counsel told the court that it was political vendetta against his client to keep her in jail, as she had started a new political party. He added that several complaints were lodged against her in various police stations since August 2018, just prior to the elections in the state and the state police had taken her in custody in October.
Further, he submitted that the complaints were made only after the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) started the investigation into the allegations under the Companies Act for not paying dividends to the depositors.
He also submitted that as the Muslim Law does not allow taking an interest, the Company had collected deposits in the form of units and for every unit there was a lock-in period in which the depositors could not withdraw the money.
As the SFIO had started the investigation against the company for not paying dividends, the state police and state machinery had no role to play in the issue, the counsel concluded. This matter was adjourned to August 28, for the submission of the contention of the complainants, the state police and SFIO.
