Info from Tasmac MD’s mobile phone revealed involvement of Akash Baskaran, ED tells Madras High Court

The information retrieved from Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) Managing Director S. Visakan’s mobile phone had revealed the alleged involvement of film producer Akash Baskaran and his friend Vikram Ravindran in the money laundering offence related to the Tasmac scam, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) told Madras High Court on Thursday.

Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan, ED special public prosecutor (SPP) N. Ramesh said, the agency had initially conducted a search and seizure operation at Tasmac headquarters in Chennai in March 2025 and retrieved important information related to proceeds of crime from the electronic evidence.

Thereafter, the ED officials searched the residence of the film producer in Chennai and seized additional materials. However, after he filed a writ petition in the High Court and a Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and V. Lakshminarayanan passed an interim order in his favour, the seized materials were returned and all further proceedings against him were put on hold, he said.

However, an Assistant DIrector of ED forwarded a summon issued by the Adjudicating Authority, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, to the petitioner after the interim order and it gave rise to contempt proceedings, the SPP said and pointed out that ED had stopped all action in the entire Tasmac related money laundering issue pursuant to an interim order passed by the Supreme Court.

After taking note that the Supreme Court too was seized of a connected matter, the Division Bench adjourned the film producer’s writ petition to the fourth week of January. It, nevertheless,, disposed of two other writ petitions filed by his friend against the authorisation issued for search and seizure of his residence as well as office in Chennai after the SPP said, the authorisation was subsequently withdrawn.

Mr. Ramesh said, the doors of the premises were locked when the ED officials went for a search and seizure operation. Hence, they left the premises after affixing a notice on the doors that no one should access the premises without ED’s permission. After the Bench led by Justice Ramesh passed interim orders, the notices were taken down and the search authorization itself was withdrawn, he said.