The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice on a plea filed by 21 people seeking direction to constitute a special investigation team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the alleged nationwide scam by popular motivational speaker Vivek Bindra and his company Bada Business Pvt Ltd.

A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti issued a notice to the Centre, CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and 12 states to file their response in six weeks.

The petition was filed by Shubham Chaudhary and 20 others claiming that they had deposited their “hard-earned money” in the money chain-like scheme of Bada Business Pvt Ltd.

“Complainants are hailing from different states, and also they have already submitted written complaints to the local police but no action has been taken so far,” the petition stated.

It seeked action against Vivek Bindra and Bada Business Pvt Ltd for “duping and cheating the public at large”.

“Keeping in view of the widespread nature of the scam running in various states, it is imperative to direct a centralised agency to probe the matter so as to avoid multiplicity of proceedings, fair investigation and a one-stop point of contact to the youth duped by the said Mr. Bindra,” the petition stated.

Calling Vivek Bindra a “self-declared motivational speaker”, the petition said that Bindra and his marketing team deceived thousands of youngsters from across India.

“The modus operandi adopted by said person and company is that he uses names of well-known personalities on his websites, in banner advertisements and extensively market out the same by falsely representing that the said known personalities to be “Professors” in the paid courses run under the banner of Bada Business and Vivek Bindra,” the petition said.

“The extensive advertisements are being run on various social media platforms with the sole purpose of enroling the youngsters for a course that misleadingly promised to train the enroled candidates in the modes and methods of building a successful business through which one could earn anywhere between Rs 15,000 to one lakh per month, failing which Vivek Bindra promised to refund the entire fee,” the plea added.