New Delhi, May 9 : A Special PMLA court remanded three accused to ED custody till May 12 in connection with a Rs 284 crore money laundering and bank loan fraud by Sravanthi Group promoter D.V. Rao and his associates, an official said on Saturday.â??

The Court accepted the EDâ??s plea to question the accused and observed that, given the gravity of the allegations and the accused's role in money laundering, custodial interrogation is necessary, the official said in a statement.â??

The ED's money laundering probe against Rao and his associates has uncovered large-scale laundering of approximately Rs 284 crore, the statement said.â??

Two directors, D.V. Rao and D. Shanthi Kiran, along with Rao's brother, D. Avanindra Kumar, were arrested following searches at companies associated with the Group, the ED said.â??

Earlier, during search operations conducted in the case, the ED had seized gold and diamond jewellery valued at approximately Rs 5 crore, as well as multiple luxury vehicles belonging to Rao and his family members.â??

Thereafter, the ED issued a Provisional Attachment Order under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, of Sravanthi Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) and others, said a statement.â??

Five residential premises were attached on March 3, 2026, as part of EDâ??s seizure of immovable and movable properties worth Rs 24 crore in the case, the ED said.â??

The attached assets include house properties (25,060 sq. ft.), industrial/agricultural land measuring approximately 292 acres and 37 gunthas, spread across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka, owned by Rao and his family members, the ED said.â??

The investigation originated from a scheduled offence registered as FIR No. 0360/2025 at Police Station Sector-40, Gurugram, wherein it was alleged that M/s DJW Electric Power Projects Private Ltd., controlled by Rao, had fraudulently availed loans from various entities.

The ED investigation conducted till now reveals that the total loan amount involved in the fraud was Rs 58 crore.â??

In a sophisticated modus operandi, while the accounting records of DJW showed that loans were being repaid to the original lenders, the ED investigation revealed that the banking RTGS system was misused.â??

The RTGS mandate fraudulently mentioned the names of actual lenders but provided bank details of Kolkata-based shell entities, the ED said.â??

Consequently, loan repayment funds were siphoned off to shell companies,including Nexus International, Bhavtarini Sales Pvt. Ltd., and Gabel Trading Co., rather than being returned to legitimate lenders, the ED said.â??

Further investigation under the PMLA, 2002, led to registration of another scheduled offence (FIR No. 336/2025) and a parallel money laundering investigation involving Sravanthi Energy Private Limited (SEPL), also controlled by Rao.â??

It was found that SEPL had been fraudulently paying approximately Rs 75 Lakh per month as "consultancy fees" to a shell entity, M/s Verset Technologies Pvt. Ltd., which had no office or employees and was registered in the name of D.V. Rao's father-in-law. Through this sham arrangement, Rs 89.36 Crore was illicitly diverted.â??

Simultaneously, SEPL booked bogus purchases of over Rs 139 Crore through fake invoices issued by more than 100 shell entities, without any goods or services being supplied. These payments were returned to Rao and his family in cash.â??

The ED investigation has further revealed that Rao had earlier defaulted on large sums to banks, leading SEPL to become a Non-Performing Asset (NPA). â??

/IANS