BENGALURU: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search operations on Monday at the residential and office premises of Mantri Developers Private Limited and its directors in Bengaluru, relating to a money laundering investigation, officials reported.
The searches are being executed under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The operation began around 8 AM, led by a team from the ED’s Delhi office, as part of an ongoing probe into alleged financial irregularities tied to the company.
According to officials, multiple ED teams simultaneously searched various residential and office locations associated with the real estate firm and its directors to collect evidence regarding the purported money laundering activities.
During these searches, investigators are scrutinizing financial records, digital devices, and other documents to trace the movement of funds and identify potential violations of the law.
This operation is part of a broader initiative by the agency to track and investigate suspected laundering of illicit funds through corporate entities.
Previously, on Friday, the ED announced that it had frozen 90 bank accounts and uncovered incriminating material in both digital and documentary formats during searches conducted on March 12 across 19 locations in Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab, and Bengaluru.
This action was part of raids conducted in Chandigarh, Mohali (Punjab), Panchkula (Haryana), and Gurgaon, as well as in Bengaluru, in relation to the IDFC First Bank Scam, which involves the misappropriation of public funds amounting to ₹597 crore linked to the Haryana government, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, and various other government accounts.
The ED explained, “The ₹597 crore was intended to be deposited as a fixed deposit with the bank; however, the accused diverted these government funds without authorization.”
The search operations targeted former bank employees, Ribhav Rishi and Abhay Kumar, their family members, and associated shell entities like Swastik Desh Projects, Capco Fintech Services, and Maa Vaibhav Laxmi Interiors, as well as jewellers and real estate developers like Vikram Wadhwa and his business interests.
The ED initiated this investigation under the PMLA, 2002, based on an FIR registered by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau of Panchkula in February 2026, concerning discrepancies in the bank balance of the Development and Panchayat Department, Haryana, with IDFC Bank and AU Small Finance Bank.
