The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to actor Alok Nath in connection with multiple criminal cases registered against him in the alleged SAGA Group cooperative society scam [Alok Nath vs. State of Haryana & Ors.].

A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan issued notice on Nath’s petition seeking consolidation of FIRs filed in different States. It also directed that no coercive steps be taken against him until the next date of hearing.

Pertinently, the Court flagged the practice of companies involving unsuspecting senior actors as brand ambassadors for financial ventures.

“You take senior citizens to become brand ambassadors. You are exploiting their old age,” Justice Nagarathna said.

Nath’s petition stated that he had been wrongly named as an accused in FIRs filed in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana despite having no role in the financial operations of the SAGA Group or its cooperative society. He said his involvement was limited to an advertisement done in a professional capacity nearly ten years ago.

The plea argued that multiple FIRs across States were unsustainable since they all stemmed from the same cause of action. Nath submitted that he has an unblemished record and that his name was added as an accused “in an arbitrary and mechanical manner, without any specific or substantiated allegation.”

According to the petition, the FIRs were based only on his appearance in promotional material. Nath said such endorsements were routine professional assignments for actors and could not create criminal liability.

The actor also highlighted that co-accused actor Shreyas Talpade had been granted similar protection by the Supreme Court in July in cases arising from the same scam.

Talpade had challenged multiple FIRs registered in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana, contending that he had only attended SAGA Group events as a guest celebrity between 2018 and 2022.

Nath’s plea relied on the Court’s earlier judgment in T.T. Antony v. State of Kerala, which held that there cannot be multiple FIRs on the same set of facts. He submitted that facing parallel investigations in different jurisdictions would cause irreparable harm to his reputation and career.

In response, the Court tagged Nath’s case with Talpade’s pending petition. With notice issued and interim protection granted, the matter will next be heard after the respondents file their replies.

Alok Nath was represented by advocates Vipin Rana and Ayush Negi.

[Read Live Coverage]