Hyderabad: ED summons actor Mahesh Babu in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Telugu actor Mahesh Babu for questioning in a money laundering case linked to an alleged real estate fraud case perpetrated by some local groups, officials said Tuesday.

Babu, 49, has been asked to depose on April 28 at the federal probe agency's office here and get his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

The case pertains to Sai Surya Developers, a prominent real estate firm based in Vengal Rao Nagar, the Surana Group and some others. The ED had conducted searches in the case on April 16 at premises located in Secunderabad, Jubilee Hills and Bowenpally.

Babu is not being investigated as an accused at present and may not be involved in the scam. He may have endorsed the realty projects of the accused companies not knowing about the alleged fraud, they said.

The agency is looking to understand transactions worth Rs 5.9 crore which the actor received from the companies as endorsement fee via cheques and cash, they said.

The actor could not be contacted for a comment.

The ED case stems from a Telengana Police complaint against Sathish Chandra Gupta, proprietor of Sai Surya Developers and Narendra Surana, director of Bhagyanagar Properties Ltd. and others for "defrauding" and "cheating" gullible investors of their hard earned money in the name of advance for sale of plots involving huge amounts.

The accused orchestrated "fraudulent" schemes involving unauthorised land layouts, selling same plots to different customers, accepting payments without proper agreements, and false assurances of plot registrations, the agency said in a statement issued post the searches.

It said the actions of the accused caused financial losses to numerous investors.

"By cheating the general public with predetermined and dishonest intention, they generated proceeds of crime which was diverted and laundered for wrongful gain to themselves and related entities," the ED had said.

It said "incriminating" documents related to the deposit made by the investors and about "unaccounted" cash transactions worth around Rs 100 crore were recovered during the raids.

"Unaccounted" cash of 74.50 lakh was seized from the premises of Narendra Surana and Surana group of companies, it said in the statement.