The State government on Monday informed the Kerala High Court that it had decided to hand over the investigation of the case relating to the cheating of investors by Popular Finance, a finance company, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The submission was made by senior public prosecutor Suman Chakravarthy when petitions by some of the investors seeking a CBI probe came up for hearing.
The court asked the prosecutor why separate FIRs were not registered despite receiving many complaints.
The senior public prosecutor further submitted it was a complex investigation spread over many places. Besides, the company had around 238 branches and had set up various shell companies. Therefore, a special team had been constituted and the investigation was progressing on the right track. Allegations of the investigation being lethargic had no basis. Over 3,000 complaints received from depositors were under process.
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Interrogation
The offences under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 Securities and Exchange Board of India Act,1992, Companies Act, 1956, the Income Tax Act 1961 could be invoked only after the completion of custodial interrogation of the accused.