<p>Thiruvananthapuram: Officials of the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/enforcement-directorate">Enforcement Directorate</a> (ED) on Tuesday carried out raids at various premises in connection with the half-price scam of Kerala, which involved swindling crores of rupees from thousands of persons by offering two-wheelers and home appliances at half-price through NGOs.</p><p>The ED's move assumed significance as many politicians had accepted funds, mostly as donations, from the key accused in the scam. There were also reports that the ED raids at some premises were affected as the state police's crime branch probing the cases had sealed many premises involved in the case.</p><p>The ED raids were held at the residence and office of Sri Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust executive director K N Ananda Kumar in Thiruvananthapuram, residence and offices of the key accused Ananthu Krishnan in Ernakulam and Idukki districts and the flat of Congress leader Lali Vincent, who is a legal advisor to Krishnan and also an accused in a case registered in connection with the scam.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court expressed concerns over making former High Court judge justice C N Ramachandran Nair an accused in one of the cases registered in connection with the scam.</p>.Half-price scam case: Ex-Kerala High Court judge justice C N Ramachandran Nair named as accused .<p>Considering a public interest litigation against arraigning the former judge as accused, a bench of justice A Muhammad Mustaque and Justice P Krishna Kumar asked if the police took the decision to register the case after proper verification of the complaint. Arraigning persons who held constitutional posts as accused in such cases could affect the image of the institution. The bench also sought a report on the matter.</p><p>Nair was arraigned as the third accused in a case registered at the Perinthalmanna police station in Malappuram district. He was a patron of the National NGO confederation formed by the key accused Ananthu Krishnan.</p><p>Nair had earlier stated that though he served as the NGO's advisor, he later ended his association with it after he became suspicious about its functioning.</p>
<p>Thiruvananthapuram: Officials of the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/enforcement-directorate">Enforcement Directorate</a> (ED) on Tuesday carried out raids at various premises in connection with the half-price scam of Kerala, which involved swindling crores of rupees from thousands of persons by offering two-wheelers and home appliances at half-price through NGOs.</p><p>The ED's move assumed significance as many politicians had accepted funds, mostly as donations, from the key accused in the scam. There were also reports that the ED raids at some premises were affected as the state police's crime branch probing the cases had sealed many premises involved in the case.</p><p>The ED raids were held at the residence and office of Sri Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust executive director K N Ananda Kumar in Thiruvananthapuram, residence and offices of the key accused Ananthu Krishnan in Ernakulam and Idukki districts and the flat of Congress leader Lali Vincent, who is a legal advisor to Krishnan and also an accused in a case registered in connection with the scam.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court expressed concerns over making former High Court judge justice C N Ramachandran Nair an accused in one of the cases registered in connection with the scam.</p>.Half-price scam case: Ex-Kerala High Court judge justice C N Ramachandran Nair named as accused .<p>Considering a public interest litigation against arraigning the former judge as accused, a bench of justice A Muhammad Mustaque and Justice P Krishna Kumar asked if the police took the decision to register the case after proper verification of the complaint. Arraigning persons who held constitutional posts as accused in such cases could affect the image of the institution. The bench also sought a report on the matter.</p><p>Nair was arraigned as the third accused in a case registered at the Perinthalmanna police station in Malappuram district. He was a patron of the National NGO confederation formed by the key accused Ananthu Krishnan.</p><p>Nair had earlier stated that though he served as the NGO's advisor, he later ended his association with it after he became suspicious about its functioning.</p>