A month after he was questioned by Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, Bineesh Kodiyeri, the son of Kerala CPI(M) state secretary, was grilled again by the agency in Bangalore on Wednesday in connection with his alleged links to Mohammed Anoop, an accused in a drug racket case busted by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in August.
During their raids in Bangalore, NCB recovered a huge cache of party drugs from Anoop and during the course of the investigation that followed, Bineesh's name surfaced.
Anoop, in his statement, had said Bineesh had lent him Rs 50 lakh to set up a restaurant in Kammanahalli in Bangalore. However, the latter has maintained that he and Anoop were friends and that he had given him a loan of Rs 6 lakh and another Rs 15,000 since Anoop had no money to return home from Bangalore.
Last month, the ED had also sent Bineesh a notice under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and asked him to give a list of assets he has. The ED had also directed the state Registration Department to prepare a list of his assets and to see that there was no transfer or sale of his assets without the agency's knowledge.
For the ruling CPM in Kerala, things have been tough ever since a few scandals emerged and the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are up in arms demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The case has also been brewing tension within the ruling CPM.