New Delhi: Supreme Court No FIR will be filed against those accused of defrauding thousands of investors across states, it said on Friday, while rejecting the plea of Saga group Sameer Agrawal, who fled to Dubai for allegedly misappropriating Rs 10,000 crore due amount from cooperative depositors.Senior advocate R Basant, appearing for the absconding accused, told CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymlaya Bagchi that courts used to crack down on FIRs if they were based on the same basic charges to avoid the accused traveling from one state to another to attend trial.CJI Kant said when a person cheats thousands of investors, each incident becomes the subject of a separate FIR. There were 33 FIRs filed in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana against Agrawal for failing to pay due amounts to depositors.“Filing an FIR is an asset to the accused. Those who have been cheated have to travel long distances to testify in court, while the accused prefers to sit in one place. The investigating agency should arrest this person and bring him to India for trial,” it said. “If a group of defrauded people come together for a party in an FIR, the court will consider it. Our approach must be victim-centric.” It is said that the court will consider the plea of the accused if he pays a refund of Rs 10,000 crore.
