From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Wednesday recorded his disapproval at the duped investors in the Heera Gold scheme case sending him the WhatsApp messages and listed further hearing on March 15.
Justice Kaul, who was heading a 2-judge Bench with Justice M M Sundresh, asked the investors to refrain from such tactics. He said some people were sneaking into WhatsApp groups, of which he is a member, and sending messages to seek “justice.”
“I don’t want to receive WhatsApp messages concerning the case. Some one sneaks into my groups and leaves messages. We don’t want to get into all of this,” Justice Kaul told Additional Solicitor General SV Raju.
His Bench was hearing an appeal filed by the State of Telangana and the Serious Fraud Investigative Agency ( SFIO) in the Heera Gold case of the company allegedly collecting Rs 5,600 crore deposits from the investors, luring them to invest in the gold saving schemes.
The director of Heera Gold is on an interim bail granted to her by the top court last year.
In its order, the Bench said: “In the end we express concern over the investors sending WhatsApp messages to us seeking justice. We appreciate the endeavour but this is not the way to seek justice. We call upon them to refrain henceforth.”
It also expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which SFIO has been probing the case since the last two years, especially at the delay in procuring forensic lab reports.
“Two years is a long time. Obviously our sympathies will lie with the accused. So many courts have already noted that FSL labs are lacking in numbers. You are a premier investigative agency and this is the condition,” the Court observed, noting that this is the grievance of many courts.
“A number of courts have expressed views on inadequacy on number of forensic labs and it remains unaddressed. If the complexity of the fraud has gone up, so has the technological advancement to deal with this both hardware and software,” the Order said.
