The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today raided the headquarters and offices of Manappuram Finance in Kerala in connection with an alleged money laundering case against the non-banking financial company, reports said.

According to reports quoting official sources, the ED conducted raids at four offices of Manappuram Finance across Kerala, including its headquarters in Thrissur and the home and office of its promoter VP Nandakumar.

They said the raids are part of the central probe agency’s investigation against the financial company for allegedly contravening Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and collecting public deposits worth over Rs 150 crore, adding that ED—which probes financial crimes—is investigating Manappuram Finance for alleged money laundering and the searches were undertaken to gather evidence in the purported case.

The sources claimed that the ED is looking at gathering documents and recording statements of the company executives in connection with its suspicion that the company has made “large-scale” cash transactions by violating KYC regulation set by the RBI, as per reports.

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They said that the financial crimes’ probe agency is investigating Manappuram Finance for money laundering but it unclear yet if a case has been filed in this regard by the ED.

A response from Manappuram Finance wasn’t available when this report was filed.

Meanwhile, the shares of the non-banking financial company slumped by 10 percent as the news of the ED raids at its premises broke.

Mannapuram Finance, a non-banking financial company with a significant foothold in South India, has been providing a myriad of financial services for the past over thirty years and some of its services including gold loans, housing loans, microfinance, among others.

The company had recently announced that it was considering various options for raising funds through borrowings, including issuing debt securities on onshore and offshore securities markets by public issue, private placement, or through commercial papers.

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Upcoming Bollywood film, ‘The Kerala Story’ is a “deliberately produced” piece of Sangh Parivar propaganda aimed to create communal divide and spread hatred among Hindus and Muslims in the state, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alleged on Sunday.

Hitting out at the makers of the controversial movie, CM Vijayan claimed that the people who made the film have taken up the Sangh Parivar propaganda of projecting Kerala as a centre of religious extremism by raising the issue of ‘love jihad’, which he said, is a concept that has been rejected by everyone, including the courts, all central probe agencies and even the Union Home Ministry itself.

The chief minister alleged that the trailer of ‘The Kerala Story’, at first glance, appears to be a “deliberately produced” piece of Sangh Parivar-backed hate propaganda against the state aimed at triggering a communal divide and spreading hatred in Kerala.

Pinarayi Vijayan claimed that the issue of so-called ‘love jihad’—a concept rejected by the courts, probe agencies and even the Home Ministry—was being raised in the “propaganda” film in connection to Kerala in a bid to humiliate the state in front of the world.

In a statement, CM Vijayan said that such “propaganda films” and the alienation of Muslims depicted in them must be viewed the context of Sangh Parivar’s efforts to gain political advantage in Kerala which is “sowing the poisonous seeds of communalism” in the state in order to expand their political clout ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

‘The Kerala Story’—an upcoming Bollywood Hindi film which claims to based on true events and highlights the “plight of Hindu women” who were allegedly “forced” to converted to Islam by their lovers—has invited widespread condemnation from both the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala and the opposition Congress.

Both parties have termed the film as piece of “hate propaganda”, allegedly peddled by right-wing Hindu outfits like the RSS and backed by the BJP in an attempt to flare communal tensions in Kerala.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday flagged off Kerala’s first Vande Bharat Express Train from Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway station.

Along with the prime minister, flagging off ceremony was done in  the presence of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Congress Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor.

Before the express train was flagged off, PM Modi interacted with school children sitting inside the coach of the train.

The Prime Minister earlier this morning held a roadshow in Thiruvananthapuram greeting people across the road while flowers were showered at him.

PM Modi, who is on a two day visit to Kerala, arrived on Monday evening, after which held a 2-Km roadshow in the capital city Kochi and took part in a youth program later.

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Prime Minister Modi is also to inaugurate the much anticipated country’s first water metro service, The Kochi Water Metro shortly.

 A dream project of the state and the country, it is not only the first water metro service in the country but is going to be Asia’s first ever integrated water transport system that is to be operated at such a large scale and size.

The metro project is built at a cost of Rs 1,136.83 crore.

Initially, the services will run between High Court to Vypin and Vytilla to Kakkanad stretches. It would cover these journey within a time range of 20-25 minutes and the ticket price is set at Rs 20 only.

PM Modi is also scheduled to inaugurate projects worth Rs 3,200 crore across the state that will add up to the state’s infrastructure and development.

Prime Minister’s  Kerala visit is being seen as a crucial step taken by the central government as BJP prepares itself for the general elections due next year.

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