Chennai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested Senthil, brother of the Dubai-based criminal Sridhar who is wanted in connection with a money laundering probe.
According to a press release, the person arrested has been identified as D. Senthil, brother of Sridhar Dhanapal, as he was party to the offence of money laundering in a case related to extortion and acquiring properties with the proceeds of crime. He was produced before a court and remanded to 15 days judicial custody and then lodged in the Puzhal prison.
"Senthil was interrogated and he had stated that he had acted only on the instructions of his elder brother Dhanapal by purchasing immovable properties in his (Senthil's) name with the money given by Dhanapal and disposed off the properties as instructed by his brother and delivered the cash to the persons named by Dhanapal.
“He did not reveal any information on the proceeds of the crime being the sale proceeds of various immovable properties held in his name and transacted in the process,” the statement said.
ED is pursuing the money-laundering probe parallel to the multi-crore land grabbing charges being pursued by the Kancheepuram Police.
The ED probe found that Dhanapal had committed the offence of money laundering using the proceeds of crime and had acquired 124 immovable properties in his name and the name of his wife, daughter and brother.
The family properties, worth over '150 crore, were earlier attached under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002(PMLA).
This is apart from the four properties worth over '5 crore in his name that are under the process of being attached by the Kancheepuram police.
Sridhar is involved in many cases of extortion, murder and attempt to murder and illegal possession of arms etc in Tamil Nadu, and the tally stands at 43 cases. “Sridhar has been evading the judicial proceedings in India for past 3 years and it is learnt that he flew away from India in 2013 and stationed himself in Dubai after he came out of jail on bail after being arrested. Though he is stationed in Dubai, his associates had been grabbing lands on his instruction over the phone after threatening the owners in Kancheepuram,” police noted.
Subsequently, a red corner notice was issued against him and his Indian passport was cancelled. However, he holds a Dubai consular service issued valid business Visa, which expires this year.
