Kerala: CMRL MD skips ED summons
The CMRL is facing money laundering charges for allegedly paying Rs 1.72 crore to Exalogic Solutions, a firm owned by the Chief Minister's daughter Veena Vijayan without availing any services.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s additional private secretary CM Ravindran did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for interrogation in Kochi on Monday in connection with the Life Mission bribery case.
Ravindran has skipped the interrogation citing he has to attend urgent duties in connection with the ongoing Assembly session. He had reached the chief minister’s office in the Assembly complex on Monday morning, evading the summons. It is learnt that Ravindran has informed about his inability to appear for the interrogation to the agency.
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The Central agency had summoned Ravindran for interrogation in connection with the Life Mission bribery case. He has been asked to appear before the ED office in Kochi at 10 am.
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Ravindran is to be questioned by the ED to extract more details on his relationship with Swapna Suresh, prime accused in the gold smuggling case and Santhosh Eapen, MD Unitac, the contractor of the housing project.
It was after four notices that Ravindran had appeared before the ED for interrogation in 2020 in the gold smuggling case. He skipped the ED summons three times in 2020, when the agency called him for interrogation in the gold smuggling case.
Earlier, Ravindran maintained that he did not have any link with Swapna. However, the ED has now collected WhatsApp chats that took place between Swapna and Ravindran. Ravindran’s lewd chats with Swapna have also surfaced and those have come up for discussion among the people.
Through interrogation of Ravindran, the ED wants to know whether the chief minister’s office has any involvement in the Life Mission project. Earlier, Swapna Suresh said if CM Ravindran is interrogated, the corrupt relationship of the chief minister’s family members will come to light.
The ED has found that a huge amount of money received for constructing houses for the flood victims was siphoned off as an upfront commission for the allocation of the housing project contract.
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