- Photo: IANS
NEW DELHI: The Special Investigation Team(SIT), probing the Sabarimala gold loot case, has decided to hand over the statements recorded in the case to the Enforcement Directorate(ED), as requested by the Central agency.
The necessary statements will be handed over to ED officials when they visit the SIT office on Tuesday (jan 27).
The Central agency had earlier requested the SIT to provide the statements of the accused and the witnesses to them. If the documents are not provided to the ED, another legal dispute will arise. SIT chief H Venkatesh said it has decided to avoid such a situation.
The ED, on January 20, carried out massive raids at the residences and establishments of all the accused in the Sabarimala gold looting case as part of its investigation into the possible money laundering transaction.
Searches were conducted at 21 locations across Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu to investigate possible money laundering linked to the alleged gold smuggling case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) covering the premises linked to the main accused Unnikrishnan Pottyin Bengaluru and Thiruvananthappuram, former Travancore Devaswam Board(TDB) president A Padmakumar and N Vasu.
The ED has frozen eight immovable properties worth approximately Rs 1.3 crore belonging to Unnikrishnan Potty, the accused in connection with the Sabarimala gold theft case. The agency is likely to move on to the next step in the case shortly. There is also speculation that the ED will arrest the accused in the case soon. - The Statesman/ANN
