ED Questions Ex-TDB Official in Sabarimala Temple Gold Probe
The money-laundering inquiry now runs alongside a court-supervised criminal case that is nearing a charge sheet.
Overview
- Former Travancore Devaswom Board administrative officer Murari Babu appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in Kochi for a first round of questioning on February 3.
- Babu was arrested by the state Special Investigation Team on October 23 and later obtained statutory bail after charge sheets were not filed on time in the Dwarapalaka and Kattilappally cases.
- The Enforcement Directorate registered a Prevention of Money Laundering Act case on January 9 taking cognisance of Kerala police FIRs.
- Coordinated searches linked to the probe were carried out on January 20 at 21 premises across Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka targeting suspects and related business interests.
- Officials say the ED’s questioning list includes people not named by the SIT as accused, while the SIT prepares its charge sheet and the High Court weighs a petition seeking a CBI probe.