Officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), after grilling Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) supremo Raj Thackeray for over nine hours on Thursday in a case related to IL&FS, hit the road running on Friday and conducted searches at the premises of Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal.

In the last four days, this is the third major action by the ED. Searches on the premises of the charismatic founder of Jet Airways are being carried out under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and are aimed at gathering additional evidence, officials of the agency said.

About a dozen premises in Mumbai and Delhi, including Goyal’s residence, were searched. Goyal was also questioned here by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) on Thursday in connection with allegations of some financial irregularities.

Read: Jet Airways chief and wife stopped from flying abroad

As part of the latest searches, the officials said the agency is also looking at the airline’s stake in Jet Privilege Pvt Ltd (JPPL), set up in 2012. JPPL is an independent entity in which Jet Airways has a 49.9 per cent stake and is part of the Etihad Group.

It was set up to manage and develop JPMiles, a loyalty and rewards programme.

A full-service carrier, Jet Airways shut operations on April 17 after running out of cash.

MNS leaders in a huddle

On Friday, in a post on the party’s Twitter handle, Thackeray said that he has told ED officials that the inquiries against him cannot silence his voice. Top leaders of MNS also went into a huddle and held a closed-door meeting with Thackeray.

The MNS chief had been summoned by the investigation agency to probe his alleged links to Kohinoor CTNL, a construction company that had received investments worth ₹450 crore from IL&FS.

 

(With agency inputs)

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