In-Camera Interrogation For Accused In Rs 45,000 Crore Scam Case

In the case related to the pearls group scam where NS Bhangoo is accused of swindling Rs 45,000 crore from over five crore investors in different states, a Delhi Court directed the investigating agency to conduct an investigation under audiovisuals CCTV surveillance and permit the presence of the advocate for the Applicant/Accused throughout his interrogation by the CBI.

In Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal also said that it appears that custodial interrogation of the above-accused persons would be required to elicit important leads as well as for determining the detailed modus operandi adopted by the accused persons in the present case and to work out the entire ramifications of the alleged larger conspiracy between these accused persons and other accused persons.

The CBI on December 23, arrested M.K. Mahajan and 10 other people in connection with the Rs 45,000 crore Ponzi scheme. The Court on December 23 sent them to CBI remand for 2 days. CBI will produce them again before the court today.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal along with Advocates Rhythm Aggarwal and Saurav Chaudhary appearing one of the accused in the case submitted before the court that in order to achieve a fair investigation it is crucial that the directions laid down by the Supreme Court in the Paramvir Singh case are strictly followed.

As per the direction, the interrogation conducted by the CBI has to be conducted under CCTV surveillance.

Adv. Vijay Aggarwal submitted before the Court that it is of the utmost importance that a lawyer is present at the time of interrogation in order to make sure that fair investigation is being done and no underhanded means are utilized in order to intimidate the accused.

The Investigating Agency had initially held a preliminary inquiry on the direction of the Supreme Court against Pearls Group, which had allegedly collected around Rs 60,000 crore from around five crore investors all across the country.

To investigate the role of other accused in this multi-crore financial scam, which had adversely affected the interests of millions of investors, further investigation of the case was continued in light of which the above-mentioned accused were arrested on Thursday.

In the case, a senior CBI official said that all 11 persons including Pearls Group employees and businessmen were arrested from Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, and other locations during the further investigation of a case.