SC to hear plea for probe against Westland Trade

New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea for a probe by the CBI, ED and SFIO into the alleged floating of bogus companies by Westland Trade Pvt Ltd. The plea has alleged it to be “India’s biggest franchise scam”.
A total of 38 petitioners who claimed to have been duped by Westland Trade Private Limited, which allegedly floated firms like Hyper Supermarket, Hyper Mart, Big Mart Super Mart, Louies Salon, Midnight Cafe, Franchisee World, BM Mart, H Mart, S Mart etc, moved the top court.
After a brief hearing, a bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued notices.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan submitted that the petitioners had moved the top court as “no action was taken either by the states or the central agencies in the matter”.
The petitioners, through advocates Ashwini Upadhyay and Ashwani Kumar Dubey, alleged that the company floated bogus firms, adding that it was a crystal clear case of money laundering, benami transactions, bribery, black money. They claimed that despite repeated requests, police did not communicate the matter to the CBI, ED and SFIO.
The petitioners sought investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED), or the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). “This is the biggest franchise scam in India and has serious impact on economy. Thus, it requires fair and speedy investigation,” said the plea.