Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered seven auctioned properties worth Rs 15.03 crore in the names of successful bidders in the Heera Group Ponzi scheme case. In the case, Nowhera Shaik and her associates allegedly collected more than Rs 5,978 crore from investors by promising returns of over 36 per cent a year.
The properties include six flats at HS Royal in Shaikpet village and a house at MLA Colony on Road No 12, Banjara Hills, the agency said.
The auction was held on the directions of the Supreme Court. On March 5, 2025, the apex court allowed the ED’s plea to auction immovable properties attached in the case, so that as much as possible could be recovered and returned to genuine claimants.
On July 27 this year, the court asked the Registrar General of the Telangana High Court to depute Registrar (Protocol) T Venkateshwar Rao to execute the sale deeds on behalf of the accused.
The auction money will be transferred to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) for distribution to genuine victims, as directed by the court. The ED said it would continue efforts to sell the remaining attached properties.
The ED began its money laundering probe against Shaik, Heera Group companies and others on the basis of several first information reports (FIR) registered by police in different states.
According to the agency, the group later defaulted on both the principal and the promised returns. Part of the money was allegedly used to buy assets in the names of Shaik, group entities, her relatives and associates.
The ED’s Hyderabad zonal office has issued five provisional attachment orders covering properties worth Rs 428.83 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A prosecution complaint and a supplementary complaint have been filed before the special PMLA court in Hyderabad.
On April 8, the Supreme Court cancelled Shaik’s bail over her conduct and directed her to surrender within a week. When she did not, the special PMLA court issued a non-bailable warrant against her on May 7.
The ED traced her to Gurugram in Haryana and arrested her on May 21. She was brought to Hyderabad, produced before the special judge and remanded in judicial custody, where she remains, the agency said.
Further investigation is in progress, the ED said.
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