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ED summons actor Mahesh Babu for questioning in money laundering case
The actor endorsed projects by Sai Surya Developers and Surana Group-- the two Hyderabad-based real estate firms accused of non-delivery of projects on time and defrauding homebuyers. He allegedly received ₹5.9 crore for endorsing Sai Surya Developers' projects, with ₹3.4 crore paid via cheque and ₹2.5 crore in cash, the report said.
On April 16, the probe agency carried out raids at multiple locations in Secunderabad, Jubilee Hills and Bowenpally as part of the investigation.
The owner of Sai Surya Developers, Kancharla Satish Chandra Gupta, is facing an investigation for the alleged delivery default of a project called 'Green Meadows'. Mahesh Babu was the brand ambassador of the project.
The two groups are accused of collecting crores in advance from unsuspecting buyers by selling plots in unauthorised layouts and giving false assurances of registration. Although the actor may not have been directly involved in executing the alleged scam, the ED is examining the payments he received from the real estate groups.
The probe was initiated after a 32-year-old software engineer filed a cheating complaint with local police against Gupta and his company, according to news agency PTI. The complaint stated that Nakka Vishnu Vardhan and others collectively invested over ₹3 crore in the Sai Surya Developers' Green Meadows project in April 2021 but did not get possession of the property.
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