They have sought directions to the Union and the states to start implementing the 2016 guidelines which would help distinguish between genuine and malicious direct selling schemes and protect legitimate concerns of consumers and companies.Their counsel, Dushyant Dave, said criminal proceedings across the country should be stayed till the SC decides the matter. The SC agreed and stayed all 19 FIRs, which means that no investigation, trial or any other legal proceedings can now take place till further orders from the apex court. The bench also appeared to agree with Ferreira's petition that theirs was "not a Ponzi scheme".The FIRs were filed starting August 2013 in Mumbai and other cities, including Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi. The order comes after the Bombay high court didn't grant relief to Ferreira in January in his plea to club three cases in Maharashtra before one investigating agency.Ferreira had surrendered and was arrested by the Thane economic offences wing after the SC rejected his anticipatory bail plea last year. His arrest was in a case registered under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act on a complaint filed by Gurpreet Anand, who alleged that Vihaan was illegally running a Ponzi scheme.

Source: Times of India March 27, 2017 23:10 UTC