New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate Friday carried out searches at five premises linked to Sree Gopalan Chit and Finance Company Limited and its chairperson Gokul Gopalan as part of a probe into violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 amounting to Rs 1,000 crore, ThePrint has learnt.
The searches, which began Friday morning across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, were launched on the basis of inputs regarding the firm violating norms in dealings with Non-Resident Indians and unauthorised transactions, sources familiar with the matter said.
Additionally, the agency is also “examining” multiple cases of cheating and forgery filed against the Chennai-based firm by various state police forces, sources further said, adding that a call on whether a probe under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 will be initiated later.
“There were several FIRs filed against the firm in Malappuram district in January this year. The cases filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Chit Fund Act are scheduled offences under PMLA. Allegations made in these cases are being verified as well as the process of estimating Proceeds of Crime is underway,” an official aware of the details said.
As per the ‘About Us’ section on the firm’s website, it was founded by A.M. Gopalan a.k.a. Gokulam Gopalan in July 1968 in Chennai, and has developed into a chit fund industry in the southern part of the country with a total of 479 branches. The firm claims to be one of the largest chit fund companies in the country, producing a group turnover of more than Rs 7,000 crore.
The firm’s group company, Sree Gokulam Movie, recently came into the limelight for co-producing the Mohanlal-starrer L2: Empuraan. The movie, released initially on 27 March, hogged headlines for scenes linking to the 2002 Gujarat riots, followed by Mohanlal coming forward to assure the removal of controversial portions from the movie.
The film’s producer, Antony Perumbavoor, said Tuesday that a little over two minutes of scenes have been deleted from the movie based on decisions made by all the producers and actors, including Mohanlal and Prithviraj Sukumaran, and that it was not out of fear of anyone.
“There is no question of being afraid. We live in a society. We never intended to do anything which would hurt the sentiments of anyone. If someone is unhappy with the film, then as producers, directors and actors of the movie, we all have the responsibility to address that grievance,” he said in Kochi on Tuesday.
“So, we all jointly took the decision to carry out the edits. Around two minutes and some seconds’ worth of scenes have been removed,” he said.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)