Hyderabad, March 23 (NationPress) - The Enforcement Directorate (ED) from the Hyderabad Zonal Office has provisionally seized assets, both movable and immovable, valued at Rs 17.97 crore, which belong to Bharati Builders, their associates, family members, and others involved in a case of defrauding homebuyers and investors.

On Monday, the central agency announced the attachment of these assets in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The investigation was prompted by a case filed at the EOW Police Station in Cyberabad in 2024 against individuals including Mulpury Sivarama Krishna, Dupati Naga Raju, and Doddakula Narsimha Rao alias Ponnari, under Sections 406 and 420 of the IPC and Section 5 of the Telangana Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act for deceiving homebuyers of projects initiated by Bharati Builders.

The inquiry under PMLA disclosed that Mulpury Sivarama Krishna, the managing partner of Bharati Builders, along with Dupati Nagarju, launched a pre-launch scheme that falsely encouraged over 450 homebuyers to invest considerable amounts of money with the promise of purchasing flats in the project named Bharati Lake View Towers.

Mulpury Sivarama Krishna dishonestly executed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with investors and homebuyers, guaranteeing project completion, while intentionally hiding the fact that necessary statutory permissions for the project's development were not secured, and that the land had been pledged as collateral for loans. The financial obligations of Bharati Builders and its promoters were also intentionally concealed from the homebuyers.

The accused prompted investors to invest in their project, leading to fraud and generating proceeds of crime estimated at around Rs 75 crore from the advances collected from homebuyers. The ED noted that an additional Rs 17 crore was also collected in cash from the homebuyers.

Instead of fulfilling the project's completion, the funds from homebuyers were misappropriated for paying interest on advances, settling liabilities, investing in real estate, paying commissions for cash conversions, and for various unrelated purposes, as stated in the ED's release.

Additionally, parcels of land acquired by Bharati Builders for the project were sold to unrelated parties. The sale of project land was deliberately concealed from homebuyers, and Mulpury Sivarama Krishna continued to solicit advances from customers even after the land was sold.

The ED is pursuing further investigations into this matter.