KARACHI: A sessions court on Friday directed the counsel to advance arguments on behalf of seven female victims of a Rs420 million ballot committee (BC) scam allegedly orchestrated by social media influencer Sidra Humaid.

The additional district and sessions judge (East) fixed Jan 24 for arguments from the counsel representing the victims and issued notice to three others to file their respective replies till the next date.

On Friday, when the matter came up for hearing, the counsel for four of the seven women filed power of attorney (vakalatnama) on behalf of their clients and requested for time to argue on the matter. The judge allowed them time and issued notices to three others.

The main character of the alleged Ponzi scheme, Ms Humaid, was not present during the hearing. However, her counsel Kamran Alam was present.

Last month, Ms Humaid had approached the court seeking a direction for the SSP-complaint cell and Sharea Faisal SHO to lodge a case against the seven women for allegedly harassing her to demand the money invested by them in the ballot committee.

Many citizens claiming to be investors had also taken to social media, accusing Ms Humaid of masterminding an online scam in the name of BC.

In her plea, Ms Humaid had stated that she was being alleged of running an online financial scam despite the fact that she neither sold any product nor advertised on any online platform.

She maintained that she was ready to return the money to every genuine investor, but said that many people with fake claims had also turned up to demand money from her despite the fact that she owed nothing to them.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2023