Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's Additional Private Secretary, CM Raveendran, is probably to skip the ED’s questioning today again, as he was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday, after post-COVID-19 problems.
This is the third summons from the agency questioning cases of alleged money-laundering relating to the gold smuggling case involving diplomatic channels. Mr. Raveendran was tested positive for covid soon after the first summons in November. After the second summons, he was admitted to the hospital due to post-Covid difficulties.
Sources from the ED have said that they are verifying details on Mr. Raveendran's health from the Trivandrum Medical College. "We suspect this is his attempt to evade questioning during election time. The probe is at the preliminary stage. But we have certain evidence and we need to question CM Raveendran. We are verifying details with Trivandrum Medical College on the health status of CM Raveendran," sources in the agency said.
Mr. Vijayan and senior leaders from Kerala's ruling CPM have repeatedly hit out at central probe agencies in the past several weeks, alleging that they are "crossing their jurisdiction" and "playing to the tune of their political masters".
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