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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted searches at the chit fund company premises of Kerala-based businessman Gokulam Gopalan, one of the producers of the movie L2: Empuraan, as part of an alleged Rs 1,000-crore foreign exchange violation case, official sources said.
The searches are being undertaken by the Kochi office of the agency at five premises in various states, including in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Kochi (Kerala), under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the sources said.
The action is being undertaken against Gopalan and his company Sree Gokulam Chit and Finance Co Ltd for alleged FEMA violations of Rs 1,000 crore with certain NRIs and some related 'unauthorised' transactions, the sources said.
The searches were carried out at the company's office in Kodambakkam and Gopalan's farmhouse at Neelankarai in Chennai.
The agency is also understood to be analysing some 'cheating' cases against the company for possible investigation under the anti-money laundering law.
The federal probe agency's searches come following the recent controversy surrounding L2: Empuraan, the second part of the movie Lucifer, which was released on March 27 in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu.
The movie, touted as one of the costliest productions in Malayalam cinema, became a topic of hot debate over its critique of right-wing politics and the covert mention of the Gujarat riots of 2002.
Apart from Gopalan, its other producers include Antony Perumbavoor and Subaskaran under the banner of Aashirvad Cinemas, Sree Gokulam Movies and Lyca Productions.
The film is a trilogy directed by actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, who also plays a role in the movie along with Malayalam superstar Mohanlal.
The film, written by Murali Gopy, also features Manju Warrier, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Tovino Thomas, Indrajith Sukumaran, Jerome Flynn and Eriq Ebouaney among others.
Mohanlal expressed regret over the raging row and assured that the controversial portions would be removed from the movie.
Perumbavoor told reporters in Kochi early this month that a little over two minutes of scenes have been deleted from the movie following the controversy.