Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Wednesday expressed his discontent at investors, duped in a case, sending messages on WhatsApp group, of which he is a part.
"I don't want to receive WhatsApp messages concerning the case. Someone sneaks into my groups and leaves messages...", Justice Kaul told Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju.
Pointing out that someone sent a message seeking justice to the group, the judge added: "We don't want to get into all of this."
The top court was hearing an appeal filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in the Heera Gold Exim case, where the firm is allegedly accused of collecting Rs 5,600 crore deposits from investors. The top court emphasised that the people who have been duped by the firm should refrain from adopting these tactics.
The bench, also comprising Justice M.M. Sundresh, also expressed dissatisfaction with the slow progress in the SFIO probe, especially in connection with the delay in forensic lab reports.
The top court observed that it has been two years and the SFIO is unable to decode evidence due to lack of forensic labs, therefore, its sympathy then lies with the accused. The bench added that many courts have already noted the scarcity of forensic labs and pointed out that the SFIO is a premier investigative agency, yet it faces such situations.
"Number of courts have expressed views on inadequacy of the number of forensic labs and it remains unaddressed," it said.
Concluding the hearing in the matter, the bench expressed concern over the investors sending WhatsApp messages to them seeking justice. "We appreciate the endeavour but this is not the way to seek justice," added the bench.
The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on March 15.
The director of the private firm was granted interim bail by the top court and it was further extended in March last year. The private firm is accused of duping many investors, after luring them to invest in gold saving schemes.
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