Heera Gold: Nowhera Shaik Directed to Return Rs25 Crore to Investors or Go To Jail
Moneylife Digital Team 06 March 2025
Coming down heavily on Dr Aalima Nowhera Shaik, managing director (MD) of the Heera group of companies, which operated a Ponzi scheme and duped thousands of investors, the Supreme Court (SC) asked the MD to either return Rs25 crore to investors within two months or face imprisonment in the fraud and cheating case as the apex court will cancel her bail.
 
In an order, the bench of justice JB Pardiwala and justice R Mahadevan says, "We propose a last opportunity to accused. An amount of Rs25 crore shall be deposited by her within a period of two months, failing which her bail shall stand cancelled and she should be sent back to jail by the directorate of enforcement (ED). We direct the accused not to engage in further advertisement. If this court finds that she indulged in advertisement, she will be sent back to jail."
 
When senior counsel Kapil Sibal, representing Dr Shaik informed the court that the MD of Heera group has no money (to return to investors), the bench said either she could borrow or arrange the amount by any means.
 
In November last year, SC extended the deadline for Dr Shaik to surrender on the condition that she pay Rs25 crore. The bench directed her to deposit Rs25 crore within three months with the ED and furnish within two weeks full, correct and complete details of the other properties she owned, free from all encumbrances. The Heera group MD was also asked to surrender her two passports.  
 
"We reiterate that if the amount of Rs25 crore is not deposited within two months, her bail shall stand cancelled," the bench says during the hearing on Wednesday.
 
In November 2024, the apex court refused to give any relief on the bail plea filed by Dr Shaik and directed the ED to auction two of her properties, Naina Towers and Heera Foodex which were deemed free from any encumbrance . 
 
Following an order from the Supreme Court, the Hyderabad zonal office of the ED initiated the process of restitution of the two properties .  According to a report filed by ED, Naina Towers, located in the Banjara Hills area of Hyderabad, has a fair market value of about Rs90.1 crore and a realisable value of Rs81.08 crore. Heera Foodex from Hydershahkot village in Ranga Reddy district has a fair market value of about Rs120.64 crore and realisable value of around Rs109.58 crore, the ED says.
 
In January 2025, ED attached 27 immovable properties with a market value of about Rs103.4 crore and a book value of Rs17.14 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provisions in the Heera Gold scam.
 
ED has been investigating a money laundering case against the Heera group of companies and Dr Shaik for cheating gullible people and collecting thousands of crores of rupees from them on the false promise of abnormally high returns of around 36% per annum.
 
The agency investigation revealed that Dr Shaik and her Heera group of companies utilised part of the proceeds of crime (POC) towards purchasing various immovable properties in her own name, in the names of her family members and associates and in the name of her companies.
 
ED had earlier provisionally attached properties worth Rs400 crore acquired out of POC by Dr Shaik, Heera group of companies and others. She was earlier arrested by ED in this case. The agency says a prosecution complaint (PC) and supplementary prosecution complaint have also been filed before the special court (PMLA) in Hyderabad.
 
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