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Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Madras HC stays ED proceedings against film producer, bizman
Chennai, The Madras High Court on Friday stayed all further proceedings, pursuant to the Enforcement Directorate's authorisation to conduct search and seizure, against film producer Akash Baskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran in the alleged ₹1,000 crore TASMAC money laundering case. A division bench comprising Justices M S Ramesh and V Lakshminarayanan granted the interim stay on the petitions filed by Baskaran and Vikram, challenging the action of the ED. Senior counsels Vijay Narayanan and Abudukumar submitted that the petitioners have no involvement with the TASMAC operations at all and in the alleged 41 FIRs lodged by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption for the scheduled offences, no independent allegation or predicate offence has been registered against the petitioners and therefore questioned the validity of the invocation of Section 17 of the PMLA. In its order, the bench said since the petitioners had totally denied any involvement relating to the scheduled offences, it had called upon the Special Public Prosecutor to produce before it the materials forming the basis of information in their possession, which has led them to believe that the petitioners had committed an act, which constitutes money laundering or is in possession of any proceeds of crime, records or property, in a sealed cover, through an interim order dated June 13, 2025. On June 17, the SPP produced a sealed cover along with an undated and unsigned brief explanation note along with supporting materials, claiming it to be the information they possess about the petitioners, which led them to initiate the search operations, the bench added. The bench said the brief explanation note, however, also does not relate to the information or materials which the Directorate claims to have in possession in their earlier notes on "reason to believe" produced on June 17. Neither does this brief explanation note disclose any information in the possession of the Directorate, which authorises them to conduct the search and seizure operations in the petitioners premises, the bench added. The bench said when it indicated to Additional Solicitor General S V Raju that whatever the information/materials they had produced before it in the sealed cover had no nexus to their original claims of being in possession of incriminating information, he submitted that the 41 FIRs, relating to the scheduled offences registered against the TASMAC officials, were the information in their possession, which authorises them to conduct the search and seizure operation. "When we expressed to the Additional Solicitor General that we do not approve his claim in this regard, the Additional Solicitor General submitted that they had already directed the respondent to de-seal the petitioner's premises . His statement is hereby recorded. The Additional Solicitor General sought four weeks time to file a counter affidavit before us," the bench added. The bench said, "On a prima facie view, we find that the Authorisation No.96/2025, dated May 15,2025 and the consequential sealing of the petitioner's premises by the respondent, is wholly without authority or jurisdiction, since no incriminating information or material was in their possession on May 15, 2025 when the respondent had authorised for search and seizure operations and on May 16, 2025 when the respondent had sealed the petitioner's premises". The bench said it consciously refrained from describing the alleged material or information claimed to be in the possession of the ED for obvious reasons. However, it would suffice to state that the so-called information produced by the Directorate before it has absolutely no semblance of an information, which may have led them to believe that the petitioner may be involved in the offence of money laundering. "In the light of the above observations, there shall be an order of interim stay of all further proceedings, pursuant to the respondent's Authorization No.96/2025 dated May, 15,.2025, pending disposal of this Writ Petition", the bench added. The bench said there shall be a further interim order to the ED to return all the seized properties of the petitioners, pursuant to the search and seizure operations conducted on May 16, pending final disposal of this Writ Petition. The petitioners shall not tamper or alienate the digital devices that has been returned to him/to be returned to him, pending final disposal of this writ petition. The bench posted to July 16, for further hearing of the case.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Time of India
Tasmac case: Madras HC halts ED probe against film producer, businessman says no direct evidence against Akash Baskaran, Vikram Ravindran; declares ED raids illegal, orders return of seized items
CHENNAI: In a major setback for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Madras high court on Friday restrained the agency from continuing its investigation into the roles of film producer Akash Baskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran in the Tasmac money laundering case. A division bench comprising Justices M S Ramesh and V Lakshminarayanan observed that there was no direct evidence in the documents submitted by the ED to prove the duo's involvement in the alleged money laundering. The court also declared the searches conducted on their premises illegal and directed the ED to return all items seized during the raids. Akash Baskaran of Dawn Pictures and businessman Vikram Ravindran had moved the High Court seeking relief after the ED searched their homes and offices as part of its probe into alleged money laundering through Tasmac (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation), and sealed their premises. The ED had earlier conducted searches at Tasmac outlets, distilleries, and breweries in March, claiming to have unearthed illegal cash generation worth Rs 1,000 crore. In May, fresh searches were carried out covering Baskaran and Ravindran while the ED was interrogating Tasmac Managing Director S Visakan at its office.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- The Hindu
TASMAC money laundering case: Madras High Court stays further ED proceedings against film producer Akash Baskaran, businessman friend Vikram Ravindran
The Madras High Court, on Friday (June 20, 2025) stayed all further proceedings to be taken by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) against film producer Akash Baskaran and his friend Vikram Ravindran in connection with the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) money laundering probe. A Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and V. Laksminarayanan granted the interim stay after being prima facie satisfied that an authorisation issued by a Joint Director of ED on May 15 and the consequential search and seizure operations at their residences and office was 'wholly without authority or jurisdiction.' The judges went through the ED records produced before the court in a sealed cover and found no incriminating information or material, connecting the two writ petitioners with the TASMAC money laundering case, was available with them when the authorisation for search and seizure was issued by the Joint Director on May 15, 2025. 'It would be suffice to state that the so called information produced by the Directorate before us had absolutely no semblance of information which may have led them to believe that the petitioners may be involved in the offence of money laundering. In the light of the above observations, there shall be an order of interim stay,' the Bench added. The judges also directed ED to return to the petitioners all materials including a laptop, a hard drive, three external hard disks, three iPhones, one more mobile phone and the lease rental deeds with respect to their office at Semmenchery and Mr. Ravindran's residence at Poes Garden which were seized from Mr. Baskaran's residence on May 16. The Bench made it clear the petitioners must not tamper with or alienate any of those seized materials until further orders from the court and directed the High Court Registry too to keep a copy of the records produced by the ED, in a sealed cover, in safe custody so that they could be used during final hearing of the writ petitions. Though Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju urged the Division Bench to keep their interim stay order in abeyance for a period of three weeks to enable the ED to file an appeal before the Supreme Court if they chose to do so, the judges refused to accept the request and said, their order copy would be issued on Friday itself.
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- New Indian Express
Tasmac scam: Madras HC questions ED's powers to seal premises of bizmen
CHENNAI: Questioning the powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to seal the premises of film producer Akash Baskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran in connection with the alleged Tasmac scam, the Madras High Court has granted a day's time to the agency to produce the materials, based on which it has proceeded against them, in the court. A division bench of Justices M S Ramesh and V Lakshminarayanan pilloried the central agency over the legality to seal the premises owned by the two persons only because they were not available when it went for a search. The questions were raised while hearing the petitions filed by Ravindran challenging the ED's action. 'Your people often say the money laundering act (PMLA) is evolving but we find the authorities are evolving by expanding the scope (of powers),' the bench commented. The ED's counsel explained that premises were not sealed but notices were pasted to the effect that the premises 'shall not be opened', besides asking them to contact the agency. The counsel said that the agency wanted to search the premises and since no one was available, they had to paste the notices. Stating that the agency has not even treated them as accused in the money laundering proceedings, the counsel said it has to search the premises based on credible information and independent materials. He also filed a sealed cover to the bench wondered why should the petitioners cooperate with the agency when they are not an accused in the laundering proceedings? The bench likened the action of the ED to a particular method used by the police, which, the bench said, would arrest the brother of an accused if the latter is not available.
India.com
21-05-2025
- Business
- India.com
Liquor Scam: Enforcement Directorate searches TASMAC offices, Tamil Nadu govt approaches Supreme Court
DMK vs Centre: Stalin govt replaces Rupee symbol in budget logo with Tamil letter, draws BJP's ire New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided at least 10 locations, including the residence of state-run liquor retailer Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) Managing Director S Visakan, film producer Akash Baskaran, SNJ Distilleries, and government contractors in connection with the alleged Rs 1,000 crore liquor scam. It is important to note that the development comes a week after the Madras High Court told the ED to continue with its investigation into the scam under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court also dismissed a petition by TASMAC and the DMK dispensation seeking to declare the raids as 'illegal.' According to the reports, the ED officers recovered printouts of WhatsApp chats near IAS officer Visakan residence, containing details related to TASMAC's liquor procurement. According to the officials, the raids are in continuation with the searches by ED at TASMAC headquarters in the first and second week of March. They further added that the probe is now focused on the money generation avenues of the state-run liquor. Besides Visakan, Akash Baskaran, producer at Dawn Pictures and linked to the DMK's first family, was also searched by the ED. Tamil Nadu Government Moves Supreme Court The Tamil Nadu government has gone to the Supreme Court against the order of the Madras High Court that gave a free hand to the agency in the probe. 'The matter will be taken up for hearing in two or three days,' a senior Supreme Court registry official told TNIE. The state has filed its appeal against the April 23 order of Justices SM Subramaniam and K Rajasekar of the Madras HC, dismissing the petitions filed by the state government and Tasmac against the raids conducted from April 6 to 8 at multiple places, including Tasmac headquarters.
