Officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office have attached properties worth ₹25.2 crore belonging to Methuku Ravinder, his family members, close aides and associates in the Sun Parivar ponzi scheme case. Methuku Ravinder and his associates cheated and defrauded more than 10,000 people and collected around ₹158 crore from them which are the proceeds of crime in this case, said an official release.
Officials said the amount included various immovable properties worth approximately ₹8.99 crore, movable properties worth around ₹16.2 crore in the form of bank balances and shares belonging to Methuku Ravinder and others.
The ED initiated a probe on the basis of various FIRs registered by the Telangana police under various sections of IPC and Andhra Pradesh Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act, 1999 (APPDFEA) against Methuku Ravinder and his close associates. They were booked for cheating the general public/gullible investors in the garb of offering high returns on investments made in ‘Sun Pariwar Group’ of companies, ‘Sun Mutually Aided Thrift’ and ‘Credit Cooperative Society Limited’.
ED investigation revealed that Methuku Ravinder and his associates floated various schemes for duping investors by offering returns of up to 100 percent per year on investments and for this purpose they started several companies under the umbrella of Sun Pariwar Group of companies, including Methuku Chit Fund Pvt. Ltd, Methuku Ventures Ltd., Metsun Nidhi Ltd., Methuku Herbal Limited, Methuku Medical and Herbal Foundation.
The collected money was siphoned off to purchase various movable and immovable properties in the name of Methuku Ravinder and his family members and associates.
The probe also revealed that after Methuku Ravinder was released on bail in the Telangana police case, he established new entities like Pudami Agro Farm Lands, Pudami Infra Projects (India) Ltd, Divine Infra Developers in the names of his close associates and again launched new ponzi schemes wherein the funds collected were utilised to acquire properties.
During the course of the investigation, various movable/immovable properties were identified and provisionally attached under the provisions of PMLA, 2002. Further investigation is under progress.
