ED serves 3rd notice to Kerala CM's aide Ravindran
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Representational Image, credit: PTI
Kochi : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday severed notice for the third time to CM Ravindran.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's close aide will have to appear before ED on December 10 to face questions in gold smuggling case.
A day after the first notice was served to him in early November, Ravindran was tested positive for coronavirus.
When the second notice reached him on November 25, he was hospitalised within hours after he complained of breathing problems. Since then, he has been discharged.
The third notice comes after the ED requested the Kerala Registration Department for the list of properties owned by Ravindran.
The first notice was served after his alleged links with the gold smuggling case prime accused Swapna Suresh surfaced.
Posted as an Assistant Private Secretary to the Chief Minister, Ravindran is a CPI-M nominee. Vijayan has acknowledged Ravindran is known to him for the past several years.
He was reportedly posted in the CMO by bypassing rules regarding educational qualification and age.
Ravindran was on the personal staff of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in 2006-11, when he was the Home Minister in the VS Achuthanandan government.
When Vijayan took over as Chief Minister in 2016, Ravindran reportedly wielded major clout and was allegedly close to arrested senior IAS officer M Sivasankar.
Incidentally, the ED started probe into Ravindran's various business ventures, following a few complaints it had received.
The ED officials went around two dozen business establishments in Kozhikode and Kannur district and are understood to have garnered some clues.
IANS report with edits