ORDER :

G. Sri Devi, J.

1. This Criminal Petition, under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, is filed by the petitioner seeking to grant anticipatory trail in the event of his arrest in connection with F. No. ECIR/HYZO/09/2018/4377, dated 08.12.2020 on the file of the Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Hyderabad, which was registered under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (15 of 2003).

2. The case of the prosecution is that Agri Gold Company led by Avva Venkata Rama Rao and other Directors, have hatched a plan to run an illegal unregulated collective investment scheme by collecting deposits from public, without the approval of RBI/SEBI or any government agency, under the name board of "Real Estate Business", to the tune of Rs. 6380.00 Crores from 19,18,865 depositors under 32,02,628 claims/accounts as on 30.11.2014, with a promise to return the amounts with high rate of interest or registering a piece of land after developing it as plots for the money invested on the deposits and accordingly issued receipts for the group deposits as if it was an advance to a piece of land. The depositors deposited their hard earned money in Agri Gold Group of Companies believing the promises of the company. Avva Venkata Rama Rao criminally conspired with other accused Directors in the companies and established 156 subsidiary companies under Agri Gold Group for the purpose of tax evasion and protection from Land Ceiling Act and to divert the funds collected by the Primary Companies etc. from the depositors. The modus operandi of the scheme of the Agri Gold Group Companies was that they would lure the gullible public to join as depositors in their schemes and encourage them to pay the desired deposits either directly or through the agents for allotting a developed plot in the nearby locality or to pay back their money with high rate of interest. The said companies did not mention either the actual market value of the land or its location or its boundaries or survey numbers or the permissions required to be obtained for the layout from the concerned authorities. All the depositors, who paid money to Agri Gold Group of Companies, are in the form of deposits only. The Agri Gold Group of Companies did not obtain permission from RBI to collect such deposits. SEBI has also stated that Agri Gold Group of Companies carried out the business in the form of Collective Investments Schemes (CIS). The Group has collected monies from depositors by promising them to pay double the amounts or allotment of a plot to the depositor, but the Agri Gold Group Companies represented by their Directors, diverted the funds to various industries like Power/energy, Diary, Entertain, Health. (Ayurvedic), Farm Land Ventures etc., without knowledge of the depositors and defaulted to return the deposits either in cash or in kind as agreed upon. SEBI in its report on 14.09.2015 declared that the business of M/s. Agri Gold Farm Estates India Private Limited was nothing but a Collective Investment Scheme and ordered the company to stop taking further deposits and return the money to the depositors, but instead of complying with the directions of the SEBI in letter and spirit, the said Avva Venkata Rama Rao, opened new companies and started collecting deposits in the names of new companies on the pretext of real estate business. The said Avva Venkata Rama Rao had earlier worked as a Marketing Executive in M/s. Golden Forest CIS Scam and he was well aware that such schemes are illegal and unsustainable. Despite having full knowledge of criminal proceedings and SEBI investigation against Golden Forest Scam from the very beginning, he planned and executed a conspiracy with the support of his family to dupe lakhs of gullible investors. The management of Agri Gold Group induced the gullible public to deposit money in their companies and failed to return the same. Despite the fact that ever by their own unverified claims, the Agri Gold