Woman head of Heera Group held on charge of duping depositors

The Director of Heera Group of companies engaged in mobilising investments through gold schemes offering high rate of interest has been arrested for allegedly cheating depositors, police said Tuesday.

Nowhera Shaik, heading 15 different group companies spread across different parts of the country, was arrested Monday in New Delhi and brought here under a transit warrant, a police release said.

A senior police official said she was also associated with a lesser known political party.

Many of the companies were involved in collection of deposits and investments in different modes of gold schemes from the public, promising a return of around 36 per centper annum on the invested amount.

While the exact number of those affected was not yet known, "it is estimated that the number of depositors could be in thousands in different states of the country," the release said.

It also did not mention the amount involved.

Many investors have not been paid their dues since last few months by the companies, it said adding the accused had not cooperated with police and not provided relevant information during investigation so far.