Supreme court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul objected to being sent watsapp messages by duped investors. The Bench which also comprised of Justice MM Sundresh recorded the same in its order and asked the investors to refrain from sending Whatsapp messages to groups of which he is a part of.
Justice Kaul said that people are sneaking into Watsapp groups of which he is a member, and are sending messages seeking “justice”.
“I don’t want to receive Whatsapp messages concerning the case. Someone sneaks into my groups and leaves messages. We don’t want to get into all of this,” Justice Kaul told Additional Solicitor General SV Raju.
The Court was hearing an appeal filed by the State of Telangana and the Serious Fraud Investigative Agency (SFIO) in the Heera Gold case where the company is accused of collecting ₹5,600 crore deposits from investors.
The company is alleged to have duped investors after luring them to invest in gold saving schemes. The director of Heera Gold was granted interim bail by the top court and her bail was further extended in March 2021.
"In the end we express concern over the investors sending WhatsApp messages to us seeking justice. We appreciate the endeavour but this is not the way to seek justice. We call upon them to refrain henceforth," the Court said in its order.
The Bench also expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which SFIO has been probing the case since the last two years, especially at the delay in procuring forensic lab reports.
"Two years is a long time. Obviously our sympathies will lie with the accused. So many courts have already noted that FSL labs are lacking in numbers. You are a premier investigative agency and this is the condition," the Court observed.
The Court also noted how various courts have expressed views on the inadequacy in the number of forensic labs in the country.
"Number of courts have expressed views on inadequacy on number of forensic labs and it remains unaddressed. If the complexity of the fraud has gone up so has the technological advancement to deal with this both hardware and software," the Bench noted in the order.
The next date of hearing has been set to March 15, 2022.
