Sahiti Infratec MD sent to judicial custody in money laundering case

Hyderabad: A Special Court here on Monday sent Boodati Lakshminarayan, Managing Director of Sahiti Infratec Ventures India Pvt. Ltd. (SIVIPL) to judicial custody till October 14 in a money laundering case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday arrested him under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The ED said he was presented before the Special Court (PMLA), Nampally, which sent him to judicial custody for two weeks.

In December last year, the ED had attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 161.50 crore belonging to SIVIPL, its Managing Director, B. Lakshminarayan; its former director, S. Purnachandra Rao, their family members and related entities and Omics International Ltd. under the provisions of the PMLA in the case of SIVIPL fraud.

In January 2024, the Hyderabad Police registered a case against Lakshminarayana and 21 others for allegedly conspiring to dupe 1,752 customers. The accused had collected Rs 1,119.93 crore from the customers.

During the investigation into the complaint filed by M. Yashwanth Kumar and 240 others, police found that Lakshminarayana along with other directors, authorised signatories and the marketing team, lured the victims with the promise of providing high-rise apartments at the Sahiti Sarvani Elite project in Ameenpur village of Sangareddy district.

They were booked for alleged fraudulent activities carried out from June 2019 to 2022.

According to the complaint, the accused made a ‘prelaunch offer’ even before acquiring land for the project and obtaining necessary permissions and started collecting deposits from customers in June 2019.

Investigations revealed that the accused applied to the HMDA for permission in May and June 2022, and approval was granted on August 1, 2022.

The CCS said that after collecting Rs 504 crore for the Sarvani Elite project, the accused initiated several other projects but failed to complete them. The total amount collected from customers for nine projects, including Sarvani Elite, is approximately Rs 1,119 crore.

In May, another case was registered against Sahiti Infra and Lakshminarayana following a complaint by a victim.

Victims of Sahiti Sarvani Elite had also staged a protest in May, demanding the police to expedite the investigation into what they called the “biggest real estate scam in Telangana”.