The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has attached immovable assets worth over Rs 300 crore as part of its ongoing money laundering probe against Bengaluru-based real estate group Mantri Developers Private Limited which is alleged to have duped numerous home buyers. The federal agency said a provisional order for attachment has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, against the company for "cheating" home buyers of 'Mantri Serenity', 'Mantri Web City' and 'MantriEnergia' residential projects.
The ED lodged a PMLA case in this respect on the basis of the FIR registered by the Subramanyapura Police Station in Bengaluru. Multiple FIRs have also been registered by the home buyers against Mantri Developers, its subsidiaries, directors, and promoters for cheating the public by inducing the home buyers with false promises at Cubbon Park Police Station in the city. The ED initiated action in this case after it arrested the company's main promoter and director Sushil P Mantri in June.
It said Castles Vista Private Limited and Buoyant Technology Constellations Private Limited (subsidiaries of Mantri Developers) "induced home buyers with rosily painted schemes, showing misleading brochures, falsification of delivery timelines and window dressing, but the flats have not been delivered even after seven to 10 years of taking deposits from prospective home buyers."
"Mantri Developers Private Limited and its subsidiaries diverted home buyers' money to other projects, which is a criminal breach of trust," it said.
The home buyers' money, which was given to the developers in good faith, has been "diverted" for purposes other than construction of projects, resulting in "criminal misappropriation" and diversion of Rs 300.4 crore out of the funds collected for wrongful purposes, thereby committing the offence of money laundering under PMLA, 2002, the ED alleged.
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