The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday questioned Congress leader Aryadan Shoukath for almost 10 hours over his association with Sibi Vayalil, the chairman of Nilambur Mary Mata Educational Trust, which has been accused of collecting large sums from students on the false promise of offering medical degree college seats abroad.
According to reports, the Enforcement Directorate wanted Shoukath to furnish details on the sponsored programmes undertaken by the Nilambur municipality over the past 10 years, when he was the municipality chairman. Speaking to the media, Shoukath said that the ED wanted to ascertain if Sibi had given money to sponsor programmes in the municipality. The interrogation started at 11 am and went on until 9 pm. Shoukath is also a film producer.
Sibi, a native of Thiruvambadi was arrested by the police in November last year. He was said to have contested for a Lok Sabha seat from Wayanad constituency in the last elections and had claimed to be the director of Food Corporation of India (FCI), online Manorama reported. He had even used a vehicle bearing the official seal of the FCI during elections and a complaint was also filed against him in this regard, the report added.
Sibi is alleged to have taken several crore rupees while operating the Nilambur Mary Mata Educational Trust that promised MBBS seats to students in foreign countries, the Times of India reported.
Aryadan is also one of the 10 accused in a conspiracy to murder sitting Nilambur Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) PV Anvar, which had come to light in June this year. The others accused in the case include real estate owners Jaya Murkesh and Murukesh Narendran.
MLA Anvar alleged in a Facebook post that he has been facing trouble ever since he won the Assembly elections from Nilambur in 2016. Though he did not name anyone in his Facebook post he seemingly referred to Aryadan as a ‘cultural hero’ who was having sleepless nights over losing the elections. The MLA further accused the Congress of having joined forces with the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) to engage in a criminal conspiracy.