BENGALURU: The Director of Bengaluru-based real estate company Mantri Developers Private Limited, Sushil P Mantri has been arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on charges of money laundering. In a press statement, ED said Mantri was summoned for questioning under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, following which he has been arrested under Section 19 of the PMLA.
The ED had launched its probe based on a FIR registered against the company, its directors and many employees at the Subramanyapura Police Station in Bengaluru in the year 2020. The probe agency which took over the investigation on March 22 has found that the money collected from prospective buyers of flats offered by the company in Bengaluru has been diverted for personal use by the management of the company or for other fraudulent purposes and hence the project is stalled.
A court remanded Mantri to ED custody for 10 days. The ED statement said the group had borrowed Rs 5,000 crore from various financial institutes and around Rs 1,000 crore is overdue. Some of the loan has been termed as non-performing assets (NPA). During investigation, it was found that the company offered various Ponzi-like schemes which was named as buy-back plan and advance money was collected for flats/homes. In some cases, the company has not refunded the amount to the buyers even after clear direction from Rear Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).
Mantri was non-cooperative, says ED
Pointing out that the company has also collateralised its assets to different financial institutions to obtain multiple loans for the same project, the ED said when summoned to record his statement on June 24, 2022, Mantri was “evasive and non-cooperative”. “He was trying to hide the real affairs of the company. He did not even submit the information/documents requisitioned by ED.”
Many home buyers have filed complaints with the police as well as with ED alleging that the accused entities/ persons are involved in money laundering and have induced the prospective buyers by painting a rosy picture of its schemes by showing misleading brochures, falsification of delivery times and window dressing, thereby collecting Rs 1,000 crore as advance money from thousands of buyers. “But they have never been given possession of their flats even after 7 to 10 years,” the release added.