ED seeks to intervene in KN Nehru's brother Ravichandran’s plea against CBI case
Ravichandran’s counsels strongly opposed ED’s involvement, arguing that the agency lacks locus standi as it is neither a complainant nor a victim in CBI case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has pleaded to intervene and challenge a petition filed by Tamil Nadu’s Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru’s brother and True Value Homes (TVH) promoter, N Ravichandran, to dismiss a CBI charge sheet that accuses him of a bank fraud of Rs 30 crore.
After hearing the ED's plea on Tuesday (April 15), Justice M Nirmal Kumar of the Madras High Court granted it time till June 12 to file its intervening petition.
Independent probe
While presenting its request before the court, ED’s Special Public Prosecutor N Ramesh informed the judge that the agency conducted an independent money laundering investigation based on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) case against Ravichandran.
Also read: ED raids multiple locations linked to TN minister KN Nehru
Ramesh said the ED seeks to present its findings to aid the court’s decision on Ravichandran’s plea to quash the CBI charge sheet, which accuses him of defrauding Indian Overseas Bank of Rs 30 crore. Ramesh told the court that the ED probe uncovered materials relevant to the case and hence its intervention is justified.
‘Political act’: counsels
Ravichandran’s counsels, senior advocates NR Elango and Vikram Choudhary, strongly opposed the ED’s involvement, arguing that the agency lacks locus standi as it is neither a complainant nor a victim in the CBI case. Elango accused the ED of acting under political influence, calling its intervention a “political act” rather than a legal one.
He urged the court to direct ED to drop the money laundering probe against Ravichandran if the CBI case is quashed on merits, warning that allowing unchecked intervention undermines judicial fairness.
Questioning ED’s right to intervene in the CBI case without a formal petition, Choudhary asked if the agency would allow local police to interfere in its own cases. He insisted that any intervention must follow proper procedure, not oral requests.
Also read: KN Nehru case: DMK slams ED raids as 'political vendetta'
‘Why is Ravichandran scared?’
In response, Ramesh refuted claims of political bias. He said that the ED has intervened in similar cases in the past and sought to know why Ravichandran’s team was dreading the agency's involvement in the case.
CBI Special Public Prosecutor K Srinivasan requested time to file a counter-affidavit to the quash petition and left the decision on ED’s intervention to the court.
ED sleuths recently conducted searches at multiple premises spread across Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, and Coimbatore as part of the agency’s investigation against TVH Group owned by Ravichandran. Premises linked to the probe in Tiruchirappalli, which is the home city of minister Nehru, were also searched.
Also read: ED exposes alleged corruption in TN’s MAWS dept, targets minister’s family
The ruling party had alleged the raids to be a politically motivated act and orchestrated by the BJP-led Centre
