The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Maharashtra government to file the latest status report regarding investigation on the anticipatory bail plea filed by world billiards champion Michael Ferreira and four others who are facing charges of money laundering in the multi-crore QNet case.
Besides Ferreira, the others whose anticipatory bail plea were rejected were Malcom Desai, Vanka Srinivas, Maganlal Balaji, all directors of M/s Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Pvt. Ltd, and Suresh Themiri, director of Transview Enterprises.
They are facing charges under Sections 420 (mischief), 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged document knowing it is not genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In May, the Bombay High Court had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Ferreira and others who are facing charges of money laundering in the multi-crore QNet case.
The court had recorded the statement of public prosecutor that investigations were still on. The prosecutor had opposed their plea on the ground that they had allegedly committed economic offences against the nation and indulged in money laundering running into crores of rupees by sending money out of India.
Ferreira had started operations of QNet, a multi-level marketing company, in India via his firm, Vihaan Enteprises.
QNet allegedly lured investors with schemes involving investment between Rs30,000 and Rs7 lakh. The cheating case began with a complaint filed by one Gurpreet Singh Anand, who lost Rs30,000.
According to police, the money involved has crossed Rs1,000 crore in the alleged scam with more than 5 lakh investors allegedly losing their money in the case against QNet which is being probed by Economic Offences Wing.
A sessions court had earlier rejected their anticipatory bail plea. Later, they moved the Bombay High Court, which also rejected their plea.
They are also charged with section 3 of MPID (Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishment Act) which deals with fraudulent default by a financial establishment.
The EOW had registered a case against the directors and officials of M/s Vihaan, QNet, Transview and Vanmala Hotels and Tourism Services in 2013.
Police had issued notice to Ferreira in 2013. According to police, probe revealed that Ferreira was allegedly a stakeholder of M/s Vihaan.
EOW has so far arrested 17 people. The Bank accounts of QNet, its representatives and associates have been frozen with Rs110 crore.
