Supreme Court turns down scamster's plea to club FIRs

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday said it would not direct the clubbing of FIRs against a person accused of duping thousands of investors across states while rejecting a plea by Sameer Agrawal of Saga group who fled to Dubai after allegedly misappropriating Rs 10,000 crore maturity amounts of depositors in a cooperative society.

Appearing for the absconding accused, senior advocate R Basant told a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymlaya Bagchi the court had in the past clubbed FIRs if these were premised on the same fundamental allegations to avoid the accused going from state to state to attend trial.

CJI Kant said when a person cheats thousands of investors, then each incident becomes the subject matter of an independent FIR. There are 33 FIRs against Agrawal in UP, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana for failing to pay the maturity amounts to depositors.

"Clubbing of FIRs is a bonanza for the accused. Those who are duped would have to travel long distances to depose before the court while the accused enjoys sitting in one place. The probe agencies should net this person and bring him to India to face trial," it said. "If a group of people who are duped come together for the clubbing of the FIRs, the court will consider. Our approach must be victim-centric." It said if the accused deposits Rs 10,000 crore for refund, the court would consider his plea.