Hyderabad, October 16: Entrepreneur Nowhera Shaik, who is heading 15 companies under the aegis of Heera Group, was arrested by Hyderabad police on Tuesday. She was apprehended from New Delhi and brought back to the city by a team comprising of top officials. She is charged of duping scores of investors, who had deposited in her firm with an assurance of availing returns upto 35 per cent per annum.

The arrest was made on the basis of a complaint filed by dozens of investors in Hyderabad. AIMIM leader Shahbaz Khan, who has been leading protests against her, said, "We welcome the steps taken by the police. I am hopeful that justice would be served and the hardworking money of the people would be returned by her," he said. Nowhera Shaik's MEP Loses on Seats in Karnataka Assembly Polls.

Shaik, the director of Heera Group of companies, has been personally engaged in mobilising investments through gold schemes offering high rate of interest. According to the press release issued by the Hyderabad police, she has been arrested for "cheating depositors".

The number complaints against Shaik, though being sporadically filed since 2012, increase in July when her company stopped disbursing the monthly returns to investors.

In a bid to allay concerns, Shaik had herself released a video message, appealing the investors to keep calm. She had then claimed that Heera Group would now be disbursing the returns on quarterly basis. However, the company failed to pay the dues in September as well, triggering panic among its investors across the nation.

According to Shahbaz Khan, neither Heera Group is disbursing the monthly returns, nor are they returning the invested amount to the investors.

In its press release, the Hyderabad police said it would be collating information on the number of duped investors. "It is estimated that the number of depositors could be in thousands in different states of the country," the statement said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 16, 2018 10:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).