Guwahati: Mainao Brahma, the prime accused in the alleged Rs 100 crore trading scam in Assam's Baksa district, has approached the Gauhati High Court seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings against her.
The petition is scheduled to come up for hearing today before the bench of Justice Pranjal Das.
According to sources, Brahma moved the High Court after a CBI Special Court rejected her plea seeking dismissal of the case. The trial court has already framed charges against her in connection with the alleged scam.
The case relates to allegations that Brahma collected nearly Rs 100 crore from over 8,000 investors by promising to double their money through a purported trading business. Investigators allege that the operation was run from a small betel nut (pan-tamol) shop, while victims were lured with assurances of high returns.
The case was initially registered at Mushalpur Police Station before being transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for further investigation.
Mainao Brahma has been booked under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act.
If convicted, she could face life imprisonment or a jail term of up to 10 years, depending on the offences proved during trial.
The alleged scam surfaced after thousands of investors accused Brahma of collecting their savings by promising lucrative monthly returns before allegedly disappearing, triggering one of Assam's biggest financial fraud investigations in recent years.