On Thursday, the deadline for the five prime accused in the Rs 1,000-crore QNet scam, including former world billiards champion Michael Ferreira, to surrender before the court in a week’s time, lapsed, yet they were all a no-show
Michael Ferreira
On Thursday, the deadline for the five prime accused in the Rs 1,000-crore QNet scam, including former world billiards champion Michael Ferreira, to surrender before the court in a week’s time, lapsed, yet they were all a no-show.
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Incidentally, though Ferreira appeared before the court with his counsel Abad Ponda, he insisted that he had time till midnight to surrender, which the court permitted. However, Ponda later stated that his client would only surrender before the court or police on Friday.
Skipping out
The SC order had come in response to the accused seeking anticipatory bail in the case, which was rejected. “Last week, the five accused — Ferreira and Malcolm Desai, owners of Vihaan, Srinivas Rao Vanka and Magaral Veervalli Balaji, both directors of Vihaan Direct Selling (India), and Suresh Thimiri, director of Transview Enterprises India — were directed by the SC to surrender at the designated court within a week. They didn’t surrender on Thursday, which is a clear breach of direction. Now, the EOW is free to take necessary action against them,” said special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat.
Gharat added that Ferreira’s lawyer Sandeep Karnik had informed the court that the accused would surrender, first at 11 am, which was later updated to 4 pm. He missed both the deadlines, but later in the evening, appeared before the court, yet didn’t surrender.
Gurupreet Singh Anand, a computer consultant from Andheri, who was the first to lodge an FIR in the scam, said, “If the accused persons do not surrender as per the SC’s order, then I plan to file a contempt of court case against them too.”
The Qnet scam
>> Estimated to be around Rs 1,000-cr in scope with over 5 lakh investors duped, the Hong Kong-based company used the banned binary pyramid business model to lure investors by posing as a marketing firm which sold bio-discs, watches, holiday packages, etc. The accused even claimed that by using the bio-disc, one can cure cancer and brain diseases
>> So far, EOW has arrested 22 people in the scam.
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