Mahesh Babu seeks time to appear before ED

Hyderabad, April 27 (IANS) Popular Tollywood actor Mahesh Babu has sought time to appear before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a money laundering case linked to realty firms Surana Group and Sai Surya Developers.

The central agency had issued a notice to the actor, directing him to appear for an inquiry on April 27.

However, he has reportedly written to the ED that he was unable to appear due to his busy schedule and requested for giving a new date.

Mahesh Babu was the brand ambassador for the two realty firms and reportedly received over Rs 11 crore for appearing in their advertisements.

While Surana Group reportedly paid Rs 5.5 crore to the actor, he received Rs 5.9 crore from Sai Surya Developers for promotional activities.

The actor reportedly received Rs 3.4 crore in the form of cheques and Rs 2.5 crore in cash from Sai Surya Developers.

The ED is likely to investigate the remuneration paid to Mahesh Babu by the two firms.

The ED notice to Mahesh Babu came a week after it conducted searches at the premises of the realty firms in Hyderabad.

The agency announced that it had unearthed unaccounted cash transactions worth Rs 100 crore and seized Rs 74.50 lakh cash during searches in connection with an ongoing investigation against Sai Surya Developers and others.

The central agency conducted searches at four premises in Hyderabad and Secunderabad on April 17 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The ED stated that it initiated investigation on the basis of several FIRs registered by Telangana Police against Narendra Surana, Director of Bhagyanagar Properties Ltd, K. Sathish Chandra Gupta, Proprietor of Sai Surya Developers and others under various sections of IPC for defrauding and cheating gullible investors of their hard-earned money in the name of advance for sale of plots involving huge amounts.

The ED 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 general public with predetermined and dishonest intention, they generated proceeds of crime which were diverted and laundered for wrongful gain to themselves and related entities,” the agency said in a statement.

--IANS

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