Court rejects bail plea of Sahiti MD, ED puts value of scam at Rs 800 crore

ED officials had arrested Lakshminarayana a few days back for collecting `800 crore from customers on the pretext of pre-launch offers and diverted the funds.

The accused filed a petition before the court seeking bail. After hearing arguments from both counsels, the court dismissed bail plea.

Meanwhile, ED officials filed a prosecution complaint (PC) before the MSJ court, Hyderabad, against Sahiti Infratec Ventures India Pvt. Ltd. (SIVIPL) and Lakshminarayana under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

ED insisted that SIVIPL did not have the necessary RERA/HMDA permission. Further, there was no ESCROW account for the project and the funds received from investors were deposited in various bank accounts and also collected in cash. Investigations revealed that SIVIPL generated proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 842.15 crore by taking advantage from homebuyers on the false pretext of sale of inventory in projects launched by Sahiti Group.

Out of this, Rs 216.91 crore was collected from homebuyers in cash, which never made it to the books of accounts.

ED investigation also showed that a substantial amount of proceeds of crime in the form of cash was siphoned off from the bank accounts of SIVIPL after withdrawal. They were also diverted to overseas bank accounts by Lakshminarayana and his family members.

The accomplice in crime was SanduPurnachandra Rao, former director of SIVIPL, who acquired immovable properties in the names of his benamis.

During their searches at various premises, ED officials seized incriminating material, digital devices and attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 161.50 crore.