ED attaches Udhayanidhi Foundation’s Rs 36.3 cr immovable properties, Rs 34.7 lakh in bank account

Chennai, May 27 (FN Bureau) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionallyattached various immovable properties valued at Rs 36.3 crore belonging toM/s Udhayanidhi Stalin Foundation of Tamil Nadu Sports Development andYouth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin in the Kallal Group case. The ED further attached Rs 34.7 lakh available in the bank account of theFoundation. Mr Udhayanidhi Stalin is the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M.K.Stalin.In a tweet today, ED said “ED has provisionally attached various immovable properties across Tamil Nadu, on 25/5/2023 valued at Rs. 36.3 crore and further attached Rs.34.7 lakh available in the bank account of M/s Udhayanidhi Stalin Foundation in the case of Kallal Group and others. “In a statement, the ED said it had initiated investigations on the basis of anFIR registered by Central Crime Branch-I, Chennai, under various sectionsof the IPC, after a subsidiary of UK-based Lyca Group complained against Kallal group and its key executives Saravanan Palaniappan, Vijaykumaran, Aravinth Raj and Vijay Ananth, along with Lakshmi Muthuraman and PreethaVijayananth.

The ED said investigations revealed that the fraud is actually of an amountof Rs 300 crore, as the Lyca group had also made other investments andloans to the Kallal group and its entities. As part of the investigation, the directorate conducted searches at firmsand individuals linked to both the accused and the complainant, which hadunearthed evidence in form of digital, documents, properties, suspiciouscash and hawala transactions. All these are still under investigation, it said.Meanwhile, in order to secure part of the proceeds of crime, ED hasprovisionally attached various immovable properties across Tamil Nadu,valued at Rs 36.3 crore and further attached Rs 34.7 lakh available in the bank account of Udayanidhi Stalin Foundation. It said the Foundation had received the proceeds of crime amountingto Rs one crore, but its Trustees had failed to explain the rationale forgetting the money from the parties involved in the case. Further investigations are on.