ERNAKULAM: After allegations that Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials have assaulted a CPI(M) leader and municipality councilor named PR Aravindakshan while interrogation as part of the investigation over the Karuvannoor bank scam, the Kerala police have decided to question the central agency officials in Kochi.
The police are awaiting the nod of the home department on the modalities of the probe to be conducted.
The current face-off is a resemblance of the confrontation between the central agency and the state government in the 2020 gold smuggling case. Allegations are that, following speculations that the ambit of the probe is to be widened to 45 cooperative banks across the state, the CPI(M) leadership is trying to delay the investigation by taking the legal route.
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The CPI(M) leader has alleged that he was assaulted on September 12 by two ED officials at their office in Ernakulam. Following which he filed a complaint with the Ernakulam central police. Meanwhile, there is ambiguity over whether an FIR can be filed against a central agency over the matter.
ED officials who spoke to The New Indian on conditions of anonymity revealed that none of the officials have assaulted the accused PR Aravindakshan as part of the probe at the central office in Ernakulam and that the accused had left the office in a cordial atmosphere.
“When the probe has reached the higher-ups, the police have come up with a probe against us and we don’t take it seriously. We will proceed as per the instructions from the Delhi office”, the senior ED official said.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) leader reiterated his statement and stated that he was assaulted.
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“Two senior ED officials have assaulted me with sticks and forced me to confess to the crime. They also pressured me to mention the name of former minister AC Moidheen and if I fail to do so, I will not see the light of the day”, PR Aravindakshan told The New Indian.
The ED interrogation is video and audio recorded and also a CCTV recording facility is available inside the room where the questioning is taking place. The agency will file a notice to AC Moidheen very soon. The former minister and MLA skipped the interrogation on September 18th citing official reasons.
Earlier, when the crime branch had registered two cases against ED officials for attempting to include Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the 2020 Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case, the Kerala High Court had quashed the FIRs.