SEBI sought time from a bench headed by chief justice Y K Sabhrahwal who heard a petition filed by a group of investors asking for protection of properties owned by the Anubhav group to secure their deposits.

Petitioner's counsel, Bal Apte, pleaded that the chairman of Anubhav Plantations C Natesan had floated nine companies and an equal number of partnership firms under the umbrella of Anubhav. Deposits worth Rs 400 crore were collected until September last by the group which ran 91 offices in India.

He pleaded that the properties of Anubhav group should be protected to secure public deposits. The value of teak wood cultivated by the group was to the tune of Rs 139.45crore at the prevailing market rates, the counsel claimed.

The modus operandi of Natesan was to open partnership firms with him as the major partner and his driver, servants or relatives holding minor shares. The deposits thus collected from public through group companies would then be transferred to these firms and money siphoned off, Apte said.

Similar petitions have been filed in Madras High Court and Delhi High Court. Hence, SEBI has decided to urge the Supreme Court to transfer all these petitions to a single court which could hear them jointly.