The Kerala High Court has quashed the FIR registered against Manappuram Finance’s Managing Director and CEO, V. P. Nandakumar, in relation to a money laundering case. The company officially announced this on Tuesday. On September 12, 2023, the Kerala High Court urged the Enforcement Directorate to return all original documents of the frozen properties within three weeks from the receipt of the court’s judgment.

The Kerala HC had also nullified the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) case on August 28, and since then, no fresh FIR has been registered. On May 5, 2023, the ED seized assets valued at Rs.143 crore belonging to VP Nandakumar following raids conducted as part of a money laundering investigation.

The ED claimed that it had found evidence of money laundering and significant cash transactions in the form of public deposits through a sole proprietorship, Manappuram Agro Farms (MAGRO), which was founded by Nandakumar exclusively for this purpose. The ED also made it clear that the company was founded without adequate approvals from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

A major chunk of the deposits, described as “unlawful,” was kept at multiple branch offices of Manappuram Finance Limited with the help of certain employees. On Wednesday, Manappuram Finance stocks traded in green and closed at ?147.10, up by 4.88% from the previous day’s close.