LIFE mission case: Court extends ED custody of Santosh Eapen till Mar 27

Special PMLA Court on Thursday sent Santosh Eapen, the managing director of Unitac Builders, to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till March 27, Monday, in connection with the alleged LIFE Mission scam case.

Special PMLA Court on Thursday sent Santosh Eapen, the managing director of Unitac Builders, to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till March 27, Monday, in connection with the alleged LIFE Mission scam case. The court will also consider his bail application on Monday.

Special PMLA Court at Kochi has earlier sent Santhosh Eapen to ED custody till March 23. Earlier on Monday, Santhosh was arrested by ED in connection with the case.

Previously, during interrogation, Santhosh Eapen had revealed that Rs 3.80 crore out of Rs 7.75 crore received from UAE Red Crescent for the LIFE Mission Housing Project in Thrissur's Wadakanchery were distributed as commission to various officials, the agency said. In his statement to the probe team, he disclosed that he had exchanged Indian money as a dollar with the help of some bank officials and directly handed it over to Khalid Showkri, a former accountant in the Thiruvananthapuram UAE consulate.

He also told the ED officials that he had given the dollar to the consulate official as directed by the gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh, PS Sarith, and Sandeep Nair, the agency claimed. Earlier on Tuesday, a special PMLA court extended the judicial custody of M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, till April 4, in connection with the same case.

He was arrested by officials of the Enforcement Directorate on February 14. The case pertains to the state government's LIFE Mission project, which intended to provide homes to the poor who lost their houses in the floods of 2018. The housing project was proposed at Vaddakanchery in the Thrissur district.

The project intended to build houses for 140 families in Vadakkanchery by spending Rs 14.50 crore out of Rs 18.50 crore granted by the Red Crescent via the UAE consulate. (ANI)

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