Gold Quest Case: Supreme Court orders notice

The Supreme Court of India on Friday ordered notice to the accused persons in the multi crore Gold Quest Scam Case on the appeal petition filed by Central Bureau of Crime Investigation Department (CB- CID) against the order of the Madras High Court which permitted compounding 192 victims out of 200 mentioned in the charge sheet filed by the agency in the trial court.

When the matter came up for hearing before the Division Bench comprising Mr. Justice Sadasivam and Mr. Justice Dattu, they directed the accused to file a counter, and extended the status quo order passed by the Bench earlier. The Bench said it will take up the matter after three weeks for further hearing.

In the appeal petition, the CB-CID submitted the charge-sheet filed against Quest Net Enterprises India Pvt Ltd incriminating 25 accused including Dato Vijay Eswaran, Group managing director, Malaysia and Pushpam Appala Naidu, managing director, India. It remained pending before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore, Chennai.

Investigation Agency further stated, in the charge-sheet that 583 witnesses have been cited and 818 documents have been lodged in support of the prosecution. Further 32,011 complaints preferred by the victims were also included in the charge-sheet.

As per the investigation, the company has enrolled 3,68,994 investors all over India and received Rs 1112,99,10,958.

Out of 3,68,994 independent representatives (IR), 1,07,999 IRs hail from Tamil Nadu.

As on date, 2,65,757 IRs from all over India inclusive of the 75,753 IRs from Tamil Nadu remain without any commission from the company and cheated.

Since, the High Court permitted compounding by the company before the Trial Court, the accused has compounded 192 complainants out of 200 cited as witnesses in the charge sheet, CB-CID contended.

- Asian Tribune -