ED finds Rs 100 Cr unaccounted cash transaction done by Sai Surya Developers
ED officials conducted searches at four premises in Hyderabad and Secunderabad on April 16 of Sai Surya Developers, unaccounted cash of Rs 100 crore found
By Coreena Suares
Hyderabad: ED raids four locations of Sai Surya Developers, finds Rs 100 crore unaccounted cash
Hyderabad: The investigation by sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate, Hyderabad Zone, revealed unaccounted cash transactions of Rs 100 crore done by Sai Surya Developers.
The ED officials conducted searches at four premises in Hyderabad and Secunderabad on April 16 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with an ongoing investigation against Sai Surya Developers and others.
How did the lid blow off the real estate fraud?
A 32-year-old software engineer recently lodged a cheating case against Kancharla Satish Chandra Guptha, the proprietor of Sai Surya Developers, a prominent real estate company based in Vengal Rao Nagar, Hyderabad.
As per the complaint, registered at the Madhura Nagar police station, Nakka Vishnu Vardhan, along with several others, had collectively invested a staggering amount of more than Rs 3 crore (Rs 3,21,34,000) in Sai Surya Developersā Green Meadows ventureāa 14-acre land in Shadnagarāin April 2021. Others who invested in the venture were Dr Sudhakar Rao, Srikakulam Vital Mahesh, Rajesh, Srinath, K Harish, Kotla Shashank, Ch Ravi Kumar, K Prabhavathi, Venkat Rao and Krishna Mohan.
The investment was made through an agreement for NALA (non-agricultural land) and mortgage plots, with the assurance that the plots would be registered within months of obtaining the necessary approvals from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).
As time passed, the investors grew increasingly suspicious due to the lack of communication from the company. Upon conducting inquiries with the Registration and Stamps Department, Nakka Vishnu Vardhan and his associates made a distressing discovery. They found out that all the mortgage plots associated with their investment had been registered or sold to third-party financiers, namely SRV and TNR Infra-Rajaram and VASGI Venkatesh, without their knowledge or consent. This revelation indicated a breach of trust and raised serious concerns about the transparency of the dealings.
The Mahesh Babu connection
Nakka Vishnu Vardhan and the others had relied on the reputation and credibility of Sai Surya Developers, partly influenced by the endorsement of popular cine actor Mahesh Babu. However, visits to the project site unveiled that the development was far from meeting the promised standards, and the necessary approvals were not obtained as expected. Additionally, it came to light that Satish Chandra had failed to address financial issues with the farmers who owned the land on which the project was based.
Expressing their disappointment and seeking justice, Nakka Vishnu Vardhan and the 30 other investors lodged a complaint at Madhura Nagar police station, urging the authorities to take necessary action against Satish Chandra Guptha and Sai Surya Developers. A case has been registered under Sections 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, alleging financial misconduct and deception by the accused, as stated by sub-inspector K Uday.
What is the case about?
The ED initiated investigation on the basis of several FIRs registered by Telangana Police against Naredera Surana, Director of Bhagyanagar Properties, K Sathish Chandra Gupta, proprietor of Sai Surya Developers and others under various sections of IPC, 1860 for defrauding and cheating gullible investors of their hard earned money in the name of advance for sale of plots involving huge amounts.
The investigation revealed that the accused persons orchestrated fraudulent schemes involving unauthorised land layouts, selling the same plots to different customers, accepting payments without proper agreements and false assurances of plot registrations. Their actions caused financial losses to numerous investors.
By cheating the public with predetermined and dishonest intentions, they generated proceeds of crime, which were diverted and laundered for wrongful gain to themselves and related entities.
ED searches resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents providing evidence of the amounts collected by fraudulent means from various investors, as well as unaccounted cash transactions worth around Rs 100 crore. Unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 74.50 lakh was seized from the premises of Narendra Surana and Surana Group of Companies.
