SC seeks accused's asset info in 3,700cr Noida ponzi fraud

NEW DELHI: Adopting a tough stand against fraudsters, the Supreme Court Monday directed Ayushi Mittal, in custody since 2017 along with husband Anubhav Mittal in a Rs 3,700 crore ponzi fraud cases in Noida, to give asset details of close relatives from her and in-law's side prior to entertaining her bail plea.

Petitioner's counsel told a bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi that of the alleged Rs 3,700 crore collected through 'Social Trade' scheme launched by Ablaze Info Solutions, which promised returns for liking various social media pages, the company has returned Rs 2,650 crore and that Enforcement Directorate has frozen around Rs 650 crore in bank accounts.

When the bench asked about the assets of the woman and her husband, the counsel said that the company is under liquidation and hence there are no assets of the accused woman and her husband. The bench disapproved of this stand and said you have siphoned off thousands of crores by duping the public and now take a stand that you do not have any assets. The bench said, "The petitioner will give a true description of assets belonging to her, husband, children, close relatives on her as well as in-laws' side, directors and managers of the company. Unless these details are submitted before the court, the bail plea would not be considered."

Making the ED a party to her bail plea, the bench said it is being done to find out whether the assets of the petitioner, her family and close relatives have been attached or not.

While Anubhav was arrested in Feb 2017 by the Special Task Force of UP Police, she was arrested in Dec from Pune. At the time of the arrest of Anubhav, the STF had estimated the scale of the scam at Rs 3,700 crore.

Mittals had registered the firm on Sep 2, 2010 at an address in Chandni Chowk.

Anubhav and his father Sunil Mittal were its directors. Her counsel told SC that after her marriage to Anubhav, she was appointed as a director in the company in place of her father-in-law in March 2016.


Select The Times of India as your preferred source on Google Search