In Brief
Ravinder Singh Sidhu, former Managing Director of a realty company, faced 64 FIRs registered across 10 States for allegedly running fraudulent investment schemes and defrauding investors. The Supreme Court ordered consolidation of these multiple FIRs within each State by merging them with the earliest FIR registered in that State. The Court held that multiplicity of proceedings is against public interest. Subsequent FIRs would be treated as statements under criminal procedure law. Where later FIRs invoked special State depositor protection laws, consolidated trials would proceed under those special laws. Bail granted in principal proceedings would extend to consolidated cases.
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