ED attaches assets of history-sheeter in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, Feb 17: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth over Rs 11 crore of a history-sheeter here under charges of money laundering.

The attached eight immovable assets of K Ravi, with a total value of Rs 11.68 crore, comprise various land pieces and residential buildings in and around Chennai.

The agency, in an official statement, said its investigation shows that Ravi's legal earnings were found to be "nominal" and he purchased several properties in his and his minor sons' name with the proceeds of crime. The properties have been attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the agency registered a case against Ravi based on an FIR of state police, it said.

An attachment action under anti-money laundering laws is aimed at depriving the accused from taking benefits from the assets obtained through alleged illegal acts.

The agency said Ravi was an "accused in several criminal cases and habituated in committing offences of land grabbing, extortion, murder, informal settlement of disputes and had criminally conspired, funded and participated in the murder of Kathiravan who was murdered in 2013."

Kathiravan was acquitted in the 2004 murder case of Sankararaman, the manager of the Varadarajaperumal Temple at Kancheepuram.

The agency said it has also filed a charge sheet against Ravi and his alleged illegal money laundering acts and it is pending trial before a special PMLA court here.

PTI