Actor Prakash Raj has been called by the Enforcement Directorate to appear for questioning in a money laundering case related to a purported £10 million ponzi scheme and fraud case against a jewellery firm situated in Tiruchirapalli, according to official sources.
The inquiry concerns a case against Pranav Jewellers, a Tiruchirapalli-based partnership firm that was raided by the ED on November 20th, during which they allegedly found some gold jewellery and ₹237,000 in "unexplained" cash.
Actor Raj (58), a recipient of numerous national awards, has served as this company's brand ambassador. The federal agency in Chennai has requested that he appear in person during the first week of December.
According to sources, the ED wants to record his statement and understand some purported payments made by the company to the Bengaluru-based actor-politician and some other financial transactions.
Actor Raj has appeared in films in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, and Kannada. He has been a vocal opponent of the BJP. He ran an unsuccessful independent campaign for the Bengaluru Central constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. An FIR from the Tamil Nadu Police Economic Offences Wing is the basis for the ED case.