Plea filed in SC seeking CBI, ED, & SFIO Probe into “India’s biggest franchise scam’
(Judicial Quest News Network)
[Read Petition]
A Writ petition has been filed in SC Seeking directions for investigation by CBI, ED and SFIO or a SIT consisting officers of Enforcement Directorate, Serious Fraud Investigation Office, Economic Offence Wing and Crime Branch to investigate money laundering, benami transactions, black money hoarding, fraud including corporate fraud, cheating, mischief, forgery, criminal breach of trust, dishonestly inducing delivery of property, cheating by personation, falsification of accounts, concealment of property and dishonest misappropriation of property by directors, partners and beneficiaries of the Westland Trade Private Limited.
The petitioners through Advocate Ashwin Upadhyay and Ashwani Kumar Dubey, accused the directors, partners and beneficiaries of the Westland trade Private Limited of various criminal activities including money laundering, benamis transactions, black money hoarding, fraud including corporate fraud, cheating, mischief,forgery,criminalbreach of trust, dishonesty inducing delivery of property, cheating by personation, falsification of accounts, concealment of property and dishonest misappropriation of property.
The plea states that the company took Rs 3 Lakhs for running a grocery in May 2019.It opened stores in Karnataka, Telangana, Goa, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Utter Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and many other states, according to the petition.
A. It is further stated “Investigation by CBI is essential because active directors of these fake bogus companies are pawns and real criminal conspirators are high profile powerful politicians. ROC Officers, Bank Employees and Charted Accountants are also involved in this racket. Cheaters and fraudsters have created many fake-ghost companies throughout the country i.e. (i) Westland Trade Private Limited, 335, Wazirpur, Pataudi Road, Gurugram-122505 (ii) Southland Retail Pvt Ltd, C-50 Sector-65 Noida-201307 (iii) White Blue Retail Pvt Ltd, B40, Sector 64, Noida-201307 (iv) Hyper Supermarket, 311, Info park, TBC, Kaloor, Kochi-682017 (v) Louis Unisex Salon, C-50, Sector-65, Noida-201307 (vi) Franchisee World, E-172, Sector 63, Noida-201307; (vii) H Mart, 29-42-26, SBI Colony, Daba Garden, Vishakhapatnam etc. and victims are also from all over country. In such circumstances, only CBI can effectively investigate this gigantic scam which includes bribery, corruption, breaches of central laws, multi-state organized crime, economic crime and special crimes.”
The company at a later stage announced that it is going to invoke “In the month of May, few of us got an email saying that the company is enforcing Force Majure clause listed in the agreement and there will be no payments for the month of April-May. This was strange because even during the lockdown, Grocery stores were open and the business was as usual”
Detailing a need for an SFIO probe, the plea states that the “petitioners hard earned money have been looted by the fraudsters by creating bogus-ghost companies throughout country.”
The petitioner added that “SFIO is essential because it has experts from financial sector, capital market, accountancy, forensic audit, IT, company law, taxation law, customs and investigation.”
A letter for a FIR was addresses to Gurgaon police, nut no case has been registered in the matter yet.
[Read Petition]
