Enforcement Directorate officials on Thursday arrested Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of Kerala CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, for his alleged financial links to a businessman, Mohammed Anoop, who had been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in Bengaluru in connection with a drug racket in August. Bineesh, who appeared before the ED officials, was subjected to three hours of intense questioning before he was arrested. He was produced before the court and taken into four days custody for further investigation.
Mohammed Anoop, in his statement to the ED, which has been probing the finances of the arrested peddlers, had said Bineesh had lent him ₹50 lakh to start a business in Bengaluru. This prompted ED officials to summon him for questioning.
Incidentally, Bineesh told ED officials that he in turn had borrowed the money from a friend to help Anoop, said ED sources.
“We asked him to substantiate his claims about the money and gave him time, but he failed to do so,” said an ED official. The Enforcement Directorate has booked a case against Bineesh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The ED probe stems from a case being investigated by the Narcotics Control Bureau that claimed to have busted an ecstasy pills drug trafficking racket in Karnataka in August.
