Officers from the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in Chennai on Friday (April 4, 2025) conducted searches at the chit fund office of Gokulam Gopalan, one of the producers of the Malayalam film L2: Empuraan starring Mohanlal, in Kodambakkam as well as his residence at Neelangarai in the city.
Officers from the Kochi unit of the ED, meanwhile, questioned the prominent Kerala businessman at his corporate office in Kozhikode. Sources said he appeared before the team at around 11.30 a.m as part of the continuing investigation in an alleged foreign exchange violation case. Ahead of the interrogation, the ED squad carried out extensive searches at his house in Vadakara and other regional offices in Kozhikode.
The searches were conducted in connection with a case registered under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against Gopalan and his company Sree Gopalan Chit and Finance Company Limited.
Searches were conducted in five places in total, including two places in Chennai. Financial institutions and business offices under the Gokulam Group were also covered in the inspections.
The case relates to violations in certain transactions worth around ₹1,000 crore with NRIs, besides other unauthorised transactions, police sources said. The ED was also in the process of verifying the alleged cheating and forgery cases registered against Sree Gopalan Chit and Finance Company Limited under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, in a separate case, said the sources.
L2: Empuraan recently underwent 24 “voluntary cuts”, following sustained right-wing backlash after its release on March 27, 2025.
Published – April 04, 2025 04:37 pm IST
