ED summons designers Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Manish Malhotra in connection to money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today, 23 June sent a notice to three Bollywood fashion designers, in connection with illegal transactions of huge cash payments. The three fashion designers have been identified as Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, and Manish Malhotra.The Enforcement Directorate has reportedly asked them to appear before the concerned officials to explain the payments made in cash by a Punjab political leader. The three fashion designers are likely to appear at the Enforcement Directorate headquarters in New Delhi for interrogation on different dates.Reportedly, a Punjab MLA had illegally given them lakhs of rupees in cash. It is a case related to transaction of lakhs of rupees in cash, evasion of tax, and other charges, reports NDTV.Currently, a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been registered against the Punjab MLA.During the investigation, the ED found a few documents where these designers had provided clothes for a wedding. The function was organised by the politician a few years ago but the payments for those designer clothes were all done in cash that ran into lakhs of rupees. The probe agency wants clarifications from them regarding the cash payments they received, officials familiar with the developments said.