DREAMZ GK INVESTORS Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The party in person has filed the present PIL with the following prayers:

(2.) Considering the contentions raised in the petition and the prayers made, this Court, on 5/10/2020, thought it fit to issue notice to the respondents and seek response from respondent No.3 as to whether necessary steps were taken by the Competent Authority appointed under the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in the Financial Establishments Act, 2004 (for short, 'KPID Act'). The Court also directed respondent No.2 - Director General of Police, CID Special Unit of Economic Offences to submit a report on the investigation so far carried out. Subsequently, various orders have been passed by this Court from time to time. On 20/2/2023, the learned Additional Government Advocate has filed the status report in Writ Appeal No.1343/2021 indicating various steps taken by the Competent Authority as well as the State. Though the status report was filed in Writ Appeal No.1343/2021, the same provides details of necessary response to the prayers which are made in this PIL. As such, the same is treated by us as response to this PIL also.

(3.) Today, the learned Additional Government Advocate has submitted compliance memo along with status report. To take note of the steps taken by the Competent Authority or Investigating Agency at a glance, it is necessary to refer to certain facts reflected in the summary of the status report. It is stated in the summary of the report that one Sachin Naik @ Yogesh Chowdhary, Sumanthkumar Das founded the M/s Dreamz Infra India Limited. A person showing different identities of himself such as Sachin Naik @ Yogesh Chowdhary, Sumanthkumar Das, being MD of the company, attracted the depositors for investment. The unfortunate depositors fell prey to the attractive advertisements and the company lured nearly 3597 depositors and collected an amount to the tune of Rs.385.00 crore. When the depositors came to know that they are subjected to deceit mischief and breach of trust, they filed 60 complaints within the limits of Madiwala, Vidyaranayapura, Hennuru, HAL police station limits, Bangalore City. Considering the scope of mischief and offences whereby the provisions of the KPID Act were attracted, CID took over the investigation. In the investigation, it is revealed that there are as many as 13 accused persons including M/s.Dreamz Infra India Limited Company. During investigation, as many as 16 immovable properties were identified and subjected to action under the KPID Act, 46 sale agreements were recovered, movable properties worth Rs.9,46,74,030.00 were seized which includes bank balance, mutual fund investment, car, etc. After conclusion of the investigation in 60 cases, project-wise 27 charge sheets were filed before the Competent Court - CCH No.1. The details of the chart sheets filed before the Court along with their respective case numbers are placed on record. The perusal of the status report reveals that the offences attracted the provisions of the Indian Penal Code as well as the KPID Act. It is also stated in the report that the Government had appointed the Assistant Commissioner, Bengaluru South as Competent Authority vide notification dtd. 5/1/2018 for disposal of the properties under the provisions of KPID Act, 2004. Now, the Competent Authority being the Additional Regional Commissioner, Shantinagar, BMTC, Bengaluru has made provisional attachment of the properties vide Gazette Notification dtd. 23/8/2019 and also filed memorandum of petition under Sec. 7 (1) of the KPID Act, 2004 on 30/10/2019 before the Principal City Civil Sessions and Special Judge, Metropolitan City at Bengaluru in connection with disposal of the properties. It is also stated in the status report that as the charge sheets are filed, the cases are put up for trail before the Competent Court and the cases are at the stage of recording evidence. The statements in the status report are supported by placing on record the copies of necessary notifications and the gist of the copies of the charge sheets filed before the Competent Court. The status report filed on 17/2/2023 includes a tabular statement under the caption 'List of orders passed by the Hon'ble XCI Prl. City Civil and Sessions Judge (CCH-92), Bangalore in respect of Errant Financial establishment M/s. Dremz Infra Limited'.