ED seals MRC Nagar house; searches still on at 9 places

Chennai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is involved in multiple searches in the city for the past three days, has locked and sealed an MRC Nagar house of Ratheesh, a close aide of deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.Ratheesh ignored summonses from the agency and he might have escaped to evade interrogation, said officials, adding that the house was sealed to prevent possible destruction of evidence.The agency, however, continued its searches as part of its probe into the suspected 1,000 crore worth irregularities in Tasmac for the third day on Saturday. More inquiries were held with the liquor corporation's managing director and IAS officer, S Visakan, at the ED office in Nungambakkam. Sources said Visakan's wife accompanied him to the ED office on Friday since he was on medication, and he was let off for the same reason before being taken into custody again on Saturday.His house was searched on Saturday also.The ED searches continued at the house and office premises of film producer Akash Baskaran of Dawn Pictures in Teynampet on Saturday. While searches were wound up in three places, it was still on at nine places. Sources said ED was probing if illegal cash generated from Tasmac was pumped into the movie industry under the Dawn Pictures banner.The ED has registered a case under PMLA based on a batch of FIRs registered between 2016 and 2021 when AIADMK was in power.