Plea filed in Supreme Court for probe into 'India's biggest' franchisee scam

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court by a group of people seeking a probe by the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and SFIO in what they called as the biggest franchisee scam of the country.

In a writ petition, Mahender Singh Rana and 37 others alleged they have been cheated and duped by their hard earned money by 'Westland Trade Private Limited' which floated bogus companies Hyper Supermarket, Hyper Mart, Big Mart Super Mart, Louies Salon, Midnight Cafe, Franchisee World, BM Mart, H Mart and S Mart etc.

The company took Rs three lakh for running grocery store in May, 2019. It opened stores in Karnataka, Telangana, Goa, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, MP, Delhi and many other states, according to the petition.

However, in April, this year, the company defaulted in payment, leaving about 500 investors high and dry.

The petitioners sought investigation into criminal offence of cheating, fraud, forgery, money laundering, benami transactions, amassing of disproportionate assets and other economic offences, committed by the fraudsters involved in this gargantuan franchisee scam.