Kerala: CMRL MD skips ED summons

Kerala: CMRL MD skips ED summons

Sasidharan Kartha, Managing Director of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), has approached the Kerala High Court against the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), asking him to appear before the agency for interrogation in connection with the monthly pay-off case involving his company and Exalogic Solutions, the firm owned by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan.

Though the vacation bench of the court heard this plea on Tuesday, no order was passed and the matter was adjourned for Friday.

In his plea, Kartha has stated that he could not appear before the Central probe agency due to health issues and he sought exemption from the ED interrogation.

The ED has issued a notice to Sasidharan Kartha, asking him to appear before the agency’s office in Kochi for interrogation on Monday.

As he didn’t turn up on Monday, the ED again issued a notice asking him to appear before the agency’s Kochi office today (Tuesday). However, he skipped the interrogation on Tuesday too, and approached the High Court seeking exemption from ED interrogation.

Earlier on 12 April, the Kerala High Court declined a plea by CMRL MD Sasidharan Kartha and three other company officers to stay the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) investigation into alleged payouts made by the company to IT firm Exalogic Solutions.

Meanwhile, Chief Finance Officer KS Suresh Kumar, IT officer Anju and Chief Manager Chandrasekaran have appeared before the ED on Monday in connection with the monthly pay-off case.

They were interrogated by the ED officials for about 24 hours. The questioning of these officials that started on Monday reportedly continued till Tuesday morning. These CMRL officials approached the High Court alleging mental torture by ED officials during interrogation.

In this connection, the ED on Tuesday summoned two more officials of CMRL for an interrogation. CMRL’s Chief General Manager (Finance) P Suresh Kumar and former cashier of the company appeared before the ED on Tuesday evening.

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.