The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday issued a notice inviting bids for auction of 46 properties of Royal Twinkle Star Club Pvt Ltd and Citrus Check Inn Pvt Ltd, which are accused of defrauding investors of Rs 7,500 crore via a ponzi scheme.

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The move is part of the SEBI’s effort to recover funds raised by the companies in the garb of sham ''timeshare'' holiday plans. Around 18 lakh investors were allegedly defrauded by Royal Twinkle Star and Citrus Check Inn on the pretext of holiday packages.

This auction is a part of a phase-wise auction of properties, being monitored by the Supreme Court, to recover investors’ money.

SEBI has released a list of 46 properties that are up for sale/auction in this phase. The properties up for sale/auction are office premises and residential properties in Mumbai, Goa, Daman, Pune, Gujarat, Aurangabad, Navi Mumbai and Alibaug. The interested need to submit their offers on April 6, between 10 am-1 pm

Royal Twinkle Star Club and Citrus Check Inn are owned by the Mirah Group of restaurants like Rajdhani and Falafels and also have stakes in Mad Over Donuts.

In 2015, SEBI placed a ban on the Royal Twinkle Star Club Pvt Ltd and its directors. In 2016, the directors were asked to return the money of the investors by the Securities Appellate Tribunal.

In December 2018, SEBI had imposed a penalty of Rs 50 lakh on Citrus Check Inns and its directors for non-compliance with its order, wherein it had barred them from raising funds from the public. SEBI had received several investor complaints against Citrus alleging that directors of Royal Twinkle were now running their collective investment scheme (CIS) through Citrus.