Mumbai: Maharashtra govt has ordered the attachment of 10 flats belonging to Heera Group’s Novera Sheikh in a building in Ulwe, Navi Mumbai, under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act. The group operated a Ponzi scheme and failed to repay depositors on maturity with the promised benefits.All the attached flats are in the ownership of Novera Sheikh, situated in Delta Tower at Sector 8 at Ulwe.The govt order, passed by Anup Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary (Special) Home, while referring to Heera group, the order stated that “they have collected the deposits and have failed to repay the deposits after maturity.” It added that govt of Maharashtra is satisfied that Heera Group and its senior executives have failed to repay the deposits on demand and govt considers it expedient to attach the properties believed to have been acquired by the group out of the deposits collected from the investors.The Hyderabad-based Hira Group and its promoters, including Sheikh, are accused of defrauding lakhs of investors across the country through an alleged Ponzi scheme. The group and Sheikh are facing multiple FIRs in Maharashtra as well as a money-laundering investigation.Sheikh had incorporated multiple companies under Heera Group of Companies and collected around Rs 5,600 crore as unauthorised deposits from around 1,72,000 investors 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 ie 3% per month (36% per year). She floated multiple schemes and extensively advertised the schemes to lure the victims.The group had started gold, food, textile trading businesses only to create the impression that they were earning legitimate profits, but in reality, the payouts to the new members were simply being funded from the cash flows generated from new investments, according to the ED findings, which had conducted a separate investigation under the PMLA against the group . The ED had earlier attached properties worth over Rs 400 crore in the money laundering case they were investigating against Heera Group.
