Enforcement Directorate raids Kerala CPI-M secretary's son's residence

Thiruvananthapuram: A team of top Enforcement Directorate officials on Wednesday morning raided the residence of Bineesh Kodiyeri here, where his father, Kerala CPI-M secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan also lives.

The ED also raided five other places connected with Bineesh Kodiyeri's business interests.

However, at the time of the raid, Balakrishnan was not present in the house.

The officials said the raids were a follow up on the information that they got from Bineesh, who has been in their custody since October 29.

Bineesh was arrested under the charges of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He is in their custody till Saturday when he will be produced in the court.

As per sources, the custodial interrogation of Bineesh has now allegedly unearthed 'benami' deals of his friends and business associates, which includes a leading car accessories businessman and a dealer dealing in marbles and granite besides the hotels where Bineesh is alleged to be a partner.

Since Tuesday evening after the word spread that the ED sleuths have arrived in the state capital to continue their probe against Bineesh, the house came under heavy security.

On Wednesday morning, armed officials from the CRPF and the Karnataka Police arrived with the ED team, only to find that none of the family of either Balakrishnan or Bineesh was present there. After 30 minutes the keys of the house were sent to the probe agency officials through some people.

While the ED officials were waiting at the residence, another team of officials arrived at the showroom of Abdul Latheef, one of the closest aides of Bineesh, who runs a string of business establishments in the capital city which includes car accessories store, hotels, a money exchange establishment, etc.

Balakrishnan, meanwhile, expressed his ire against the media when he said the CPI-M was being haunted by a section of the media and they were silent on the various corrupt deals of the opposition Congress leaders.

Even though the CPI-M national leadership appeared to be strongly behind both Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Balakrishnan, all eyes are on the two-day meeting of the state unit of the party later this week. Meanwhile, social media is flooded with numerous trolls against the present state of affairs of the CPI-M.