Manthri Developers’ MD arrested for money laundering

HYDERABAD: Mantri Developers Private Limited chairman and managing director Sushil P. Mantri, who has taken up three prestigious residential projects at posh localities of Jubilee Hills, Gachibowli and Narsingi in the city, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in connection with a money laundering case.

Mantri Developers Private Limited is a Bangalore-based real estate company and is taking up residential projects in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. In Hyderabad, Mantri Developers finished two projects - Mantri Celestia at Wipro Junction of Gachibowli and Mantri Euphoria at Narsingi Junction. One ongoing project - Mantri A is located at Jubilee Hills. Palatial five-bedroom apartments are being constructed near the Jubilee Hills check post.

Hours after the arrest of Sushil P. Mantri in Bangalore, the ED officials produced him before the court. Later, the court granted police custody of the accused for 10 days for questioning him in the case.

In 2020, the Bangalore city police registered a case against Mantri Developers management for allegedly duping customers on pretext of delivering luxurious apartments by collecting at least Rs 1,000 crore from the home buyers. Later, the ED officials took up the case and started an investigation.

During the probe, the ED officials found that the Mantri Developers collected crores of rupees from home buyers and did not hand over constructed flats to customers. In some instances, customers have been waiting for eight years after making payment to the management of Mantri Developers.

"The accused company cheated customers by showing brochures and giving false promises. Lured by the luxurious housing projects, customers invested their money with the accused company. It was also revealed that the accused company offered ponzi-like schemes which were named buy-back plans and collected advance payments from customers. Even as the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) gave instructions to refund money, the accused company failed to do so," officials said.

Further, the ED officials found that the management collected money from customers for developing residential projects and diverted it to personal use and indulged in money laundering activities. The agency officials obtained details that the Mantri Developers had a total outstanding of Rs 5,000 crore from various financial institutions. Of the Rs 5,000 crore, Rs 1,000 crore is overdue to financial companies and some of the loans are termed as non-performing assets (NPA).