Mantena Group CMD gets bail

 Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court’s vacation bench of Justice M. Laxman on Monday granted conditional bail to city-based businessman Mantena Srinivas Raju, the CMD of Mantena Group of companies, who was arrested by the ED in 2021 in connection with a Rs 3,000 crore scam in Madhya Pradesh.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had booked Srinivas Raju and his staff under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), for allegedly conspiring with the Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation Limited to tamper e-tender process and bag big-ticket contracts worth Rs 3,000 crore.

The malfeasance took place in 2019 and the cases were registered earlier by the economic offences wing of Madhya Pradesh against Max Mantena Micro Joint Venture, Hyderabad, and GVPR Engineers Limited, Hyderabad, among others.

Requesting for the cases to be quashed, Srinivas Raju in 2021 approached the Telangana High Court, following which the case went to the Supreme Court and was reverted to the High Court.

Granting bail, the Telangana High Court asked Raju to furnish a personal bond for Rs 10 lakh with two sureties for a like sum, each to the satisfaction of the metropolitan sessions judge-cum-special court constituted under PMLA.

He was also directed to surrender his passport to the special court.