Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of the Kerala Home Minister, has been arrested for alleged money laundering.
Thiruvananthapuram:
Officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today ended a 24-hour long raid at the Thiruvananthapuram residence of Bineesh Kodiyeri, the son of CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The family residing there alleged it was being pressured into signing documents stating that a debit card was found during the search, which it denied.
The state Child Rights Commission has served a legal notice on the ED based on a complaint from Mr Kodiyeri’s father-in-law alleging that his daughter, Reneta, was not allowed to breast-feed her two-year-old child nor was herself allowed to eat anything.
Some relatives of the family also sat on a dharna outside the home before ED officials left this morning. They alleged that they were not being allowed to meet those stuck inside or even speak with them over the phone.
Mr Kodiyeri was arrested last week for alleged money laundering linked to a narcotics case being probed in Bengaluru. The accused, a drug peddler, according to the probe agency, had close links with the CPM leader’s son.
The ED reportedly found huge amounts of unaccounted funds regularly credited into the bank accounts one Anoop, the accused in the narcotics case, by Mr Kodiyeri. The latter, too, had told the media earlier that he had lent the money for Anoop to start a business.
Today, as soon as the ED officials left, Bineesh Kodiyeri’s family said it had refused to sign documents related to the debit/credit card.
“They yesterday asked me to sign a document saying they are seizing an iPhone. That was my mother’s, so I agreed and signed. By 6pm, they said they got a debit card. I am certain I have not seen the card in this house and I refused to sign the document,” Ms Reneta told the media.
“I told the official that should have informed me when they found the card, not at the end of the day…I told them they could stay here for days and have food but I would not sign,” Ms Reneta told the media.