HYDERABAD: Continuing with its probe into the Heera Gold scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday took possession of various properties of scam kingpin Nowhera Sheik worth hundreds of crores and include buildings, flats and luxury cars.
Sources in ED said six flats in HS Royals Apartments in Shaikpet and Naina Towers in Banjara Hills were sealed. ED, Hyderabad, has been working to take physical possession of attached properties of Nowhera spread across south India. Most of these properties were attached in 2019-20, which also saw the ED attaching assets worth Rs 6,000 crore in these two years.
Recently, the ED had filed a prosecution complaint against Nowhera in the ponzi scheme fraud case soon after she got a temporary bail from the Supreme Court.
In August 2019, the ED attached Rs 300 crore worth of properties of Nowhera and her Heera Group of companies.
In all, the ED attached 96 properties in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The attached properties include agricultural land parcels, plots, residential buildings and commercial complexes. In 2019, Rs 277 crore worth immovable assets and Rs 23 crore worth movable assets like bank balances and cars were attached.
In several states, the accused had floated 24 companies under Heera Group and opened 182 bank accounts. Multiple FIRs were booked in Telangana, AP, Maharashtra and other states. The ED is also probing offshore accounts in Gulf countries allegedly linked to the accused.
The ED alleged that Nowhera conspired and lured gullible people to deposit their savings with her. She collected deposits of Rs 5,600 crore from around 1,72,000 investors across the country by making false promises of paying high rates of returns.
As many as 28 accused are named in the case.