The Enforcement Directorate on Monday informed the Kerala High Court that its investigation in the Kodakara black money case involving State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders has been completed and a chargesheet will be filed within four weeks.
The submission was made by Jayasankar V. Nair, counsel for the ED, when a writ petition filed by Santhosh Kumar, a witness in the case, seeking a directive to the ED and the Income Tax department to complete the probe in the case came up before the court. The Income Tax department also submitted that its investigation was in progress.
When asked by the court whether any offence had been made out during the probe, ED’s counsel submitted that based on the scheduled offence registered by the police, the ED had probed the money laundering case that resulted from the robbery.
The court disposed of the petition while recording these submissions. The robbery of money took place on the Kodakara highway in Thrissur district days before the Assembly elections in 2021.
According to the Kodakara police, ₹41.40 crore was illegally brought from Karnataka to the State through various persons for meeting the expenses of the Assembly elections of 2021 with the knowledge of the State office-bearers of the BJP.
The petitioner pointed out that the probe by the ED and the Income Tax department was going on at a snail’s pace. Though the investigation started in 2023, no complaint or closure report had been filed so far before the special court under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. They were not conducting the investigation in a proper manner.
Published - January 27, 2025 07:02 pm IST
