Sandalwood drug case: ED gets court nod to quiz five accused in jail

BENGALURU: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has been permitted by the Special Court for NDPS Cases to question the five accused in the Sandalwood drug racket, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PML Act).Hearing the ED’s petition, the court, on Thursday, granted permission to the Central agency to quiz the accused in the Bengaluru Central Prison for five days. The ED will record the written statements of Archana Galrani alias Sanjjanaa Galrani, Rahul Thonse, Virender Khanna, Ragini Dwivedi and Ravishankar.

In its petition, the ED submitted to the court that the offence was examined and it came to the conclusion that there appeared to be a prima facie case of money laundering under Section 3 of the PML Act. Hence, the ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on September 9 and initiated a probe. “For the purpose of investigation, it is necessary to record the statements of the respondents. Their written statements are very much essential for the money-laundering investigation which is admissible evidence before the court,” the ED stated.

“Preliminary enquiry revealed that a huge amount of proceeds of crime are involved in money laundering activities. The accused were arrested by the CCB as they were found to be in possession of drugs/psychotropic substances which were beyond the permissible limits at their residences and also financing illicit traffic of drugs along with huge proceeds of crime,” the ED submitted. To unearth the properties acquired by the accused by way of extortion, killing and dealing drugs, recording their written statements was essential to know the details of properties purchased and investments made out of the proceeds of crime. And to get details of the people who assisted them in money laundering, the ED said.