The Telangana High Court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) not to take coercive action against two directors of Vihaan Direct Selling India Pvt Ltd in a case arising from the alleged suicide of a man from Siddipet after financial losses linked to QNet investment schemes. The court did not stay the proceedings and has sought the agency’s response before the matter is heard further.
A bench of Justice J Sreenivas Rao granted interim protection to Dilipraj Pukkella and Muhammad Imthiaz, directors of Vihaan Direct Selling India Pvt Ltd, which is linked to QNet-related direct-selling activities. The court directed the CBI to file its counter within four weeks and adjourned the matter for further hearing.
The case concerns the death of Badugu Harikrishna, who allegedly died by suicide in October 2025 after suffering financial losses from investments in QNet, online betting and gaming applications, according to the report. The investigation was initially conducted by Siddipet police before being transferred to the Telangana Crime Investigation Department and later taken over by the CBI.
The two directors approached the High Court seeking quashing of the case and a stay on further proceedings. Their counsel argued that they were not named in the original complaint or the first information report and were added as accused only during the investigation. The petitioners also contended that the transactions under scrutiny were genuine product purchases and not part of a money circulation scheme.
The petitioners further argued that there was no specific act, communication or conduct linking them to Harikrishna’s death or to the offences alleged in the case. Their counsel cited relief granted to the directors in earlier QNet-related cases registered by Hyderabad police, the Telangana CID and authorities in Karnataka.
The CBI opposed the petition and urged the court to dismiss it. T Srujan Kumar Reddy, the agency’s special public prosecutor, submitted that several cases had been registered against the firm in different parts of the country and alleged that the company and its directors were involved in a multi-crore scam. He also told the court that the petitioners had not cooperated with the investigation and that the agency had been unable to trace them after the probe was transferred to the CBI in September.
The High Court’s order provides interim protection from coercive action but does not terminate the criminal proceedings or determine the allegations against the directors. The CBI is required to submit its response within four weeks, after which the petition is expected to come up for further consideration.
