Telangana High Court quashes ED proceedings against Max Mantena in money laundering case

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has quashed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) proceedings against Max Mantena, an irrigation project construction company, in a money laundering case. The court on Tuesday found that the ED had no evidence to support its allegations against Max Mantena and that the case was a misuse of the law.

The ED had registered the case against Max Mantena in 2020 based on an FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Madhya Pradesh Police. The EOW FIR alleged that Max Mantena had tampered with an e-tender process for an irrigation project in Madhya Pradesh. Hyderabad based businessman Mantena Srinivas Raju, the CMD of Mantena Group of companies, was arrested by the ED in 2021 in connection with a Rs 3,000 crore scam.

However, the trial court acquitted all the accused in the EOW case, including Max Mantena.

The ED argued that it could still proceed with its case against Max Mantena even though the EOW case had been dismissed. However, the High Court disagreed, saying that the ED needed to have independent evidence to support its case. The court found that the ED did not have any such evidence and that the case was therefore a misuse of the law.