HYDERABAD: Nowhera Shaik, the founder of Heera Group of Companies, was arrested in Gurugram, Haryana, on Thursday in connection with an alleged multi-crore investment scam. She had been absconding after the Supreme Court cancelled her bail for evading investigators and obstructing auctioning of her properties that she reportedly purchased using illegally obtained money.
According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), FIRs have been registered in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh against Nowhera Shaik, Molly Thomas, Biju Thomas and the Heera Group of Companies following complaints from aggrieved depositors across the country. The depositors alleged that Nowhera Shaik had defrauded 1,72,114 investors of more than Rs 3,000 crore.
According to the agency, investigations revealed that Nowhera Shaik had collected deposits from investors across India on the pretext of investing in the Heera Group of Companies, promising returns of nearly 36 per cent per annum. However, she allegedly failed to repay either the promised profits or the principal amounts. ED officials stated that Nowhera Shaik and her associates diverted depositors’ funds into their personal accounts through company bank accounts for wrongful gain and acquired huge movable and immovable properties using the illegally obtained money.
During the investigation, the ED identified several properties allegedly purchased using proceeds of crime and attached them under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. For the first time, the ED obtained permission from the Supreme Court in WP (Crl) No 31 of 2020 and MA No 2227 of 2024 to auction attached properties prior to trial and confiscation orders by the PMLA court. Some of the properties were successfully auctioned, fetching nearly Rs 122 crore.
However, officials said Nowhera Shaik failed to cooperate in the execution of sale deeds in favour of successful bidders and allegedly made repeated attempts to obstruct the auction proceedings.
The ED again approached the Supreme Court, which took serious note of her conduct, cancelled her bail and directed her to surrender before jail authorities within one week. Despite the directions of the apex court and subsequent proceedings before the Special Court under the PMLA, Nowhera Shaik allegedly continued to evade the legal process.
Subsequently, the Special Court under the PMLA in Hyderabad issued a non-bailable warrant against her on May 7, 2026, and directed the ED to execute the warrant and produce her before the court.
ED officials said efforts were made to trace and apprehend her at known addresses in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, but she was not found there. Investigators later gathered intelligence inputs that she was hiding in Gurugram under a fake identity using forged documents.
Acting on the information, ED officials, along with Haryana police, conducted a joint operation and apprehended Nowhera Shaik.
She was subsequently brought to Hyderabad and produced before the court on the same day.