The Enforcement Directorate (ED) continued questioning CM Ravindran, Additional Private Secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, for the second day on Wednesday in connection with the money laundering case booked in relation to the alleged commission paid for Wadakkanchery LIFE Mission housing project of the Kerala government.

The central probe agency grilled him for around 10 hours on Tuesday in connection with the case. The interrogation on Tuesday was supervised by ED Kochi Zonal Additional Director Dinesh  Paruchhuri.

The key man in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) Ravindran had reached the office of the ED in Kochi around 8 am on Wednesday.

The probe agency asked  him to turn up for the second consecutive day as it wanted to gather more information from him on the alleged pay-off in awarding the contract for the LIFE Mission project.

The  probe agency had on 14 February  arrested M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in connection with the case. Sivasankar is currently in judicial custody.

The agency has decided to question Ravindran after it found  that  he was familiar with the LIFE Mission housing project at Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district.

The ED has reportedly received evidence that CM Ravindran was aware of the project and he has involvement in the housing project. His role in allocating work to Unitac Builders without inviting a tender is part of the probe, it  has been reported.

Earlier in February, the ED  had grilled UV Jose, former CEO of the Life Mission project in connection with the case. The agency has also  interrogated Sivasankar’s chartered accountant P Venugopal, Unitac MD Santhosh Eappen and the accused in the gold smuggling case Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair and  Sarith PS.

The ED had earlier in December 2020 grilled him in connection with the money-laundering case booked following the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case.

The LIFE Mission corruption case pertains to the diversion of Rs 3 crore from Rs 20 crore donated by the UAE-based Red Crescent for a housing project for the poor in 2019.

The ED registered the case in 2020 based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) in accepting funds from abroad for the project. There are six persons including Sivasankar as accused in the case.