Hyderabad businessman Mantena Srinivas Raju in Enforcement Directorate net for e-tender scam

During the probe, the ED summoned Srinivas Raju and others for questioning to Madhya Prasesh where its sleuths arrested him and Tripati.
Enforcement Directorate (File Photo | PTI)
Enforcement Directorate (File Photo | PTI)

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad-based businessman Mantena Srinivas Raju, the chairman and managing director of Mantena Group of Companies, and his associate have landed in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) net for pulling off a Rs 3,000 crore e-tender scam in Madhya Pradesh. 

The ED sleuths arrested Srinivas Raju and his aide Aditya Tripati, of Arni Infra and a native of Madhya Pradesh, and booked them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). They have been sent to 14-day judicial custody.  

Srinivas Raju and his staff of the Mantena Group of Companies had allegedly conspired with the Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation Limited and tampered with the e-tenders process to bag big-ticket contracts worth Rs 3,000 crore. 

The malfeasance took place in 2019 and the cases were registered earlier by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of MP against Max Mantena Micro JV Hyderabad and GVPR Engineers Limited, Hyderabad, among others. After the EOW registered the cases, the ED obtained the FIR details from the probe agency and registered the cases. 

During the probe, the ED summoned Srinivas Raju and others for questioning to Madhya Prasesh where its sleuths arrested him and Tripati. The officials also conducted searches at 25 locations, including in Hyderabad, and seized incriminatory material from Raju’s office and residence. 

Based on the chargesheet filed by the EOW officials of MP, the ED sleuths found that the company, along with others involved in the case, had tampered with the IP access logs and accessed the e-tenders. 

They had changed the bid values of certain companies so that the Mantena Group of Companies becomes the lowest bidder. This is how Srinivas Raju had obtained an e-tender worth Rs 1,030 crore. 

Additionally, he, with Tripati’s help, established Arni Infra in Bhopal. 

However, Raju reinformed the ED that the Mantena Companies had given a sub-contract to Arni Infra in MP.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com