Bengaluru: With the arrest of Bineesh Kodiyeri for alleged money laundering in connection with an inter-state drug racket, a narcotics case with links to the Kannada and Malayalam film industries has acquired a political shade too.
Initially, three Keralites were found having links to the narcotics case that has rocked the Kannada film industry following the seizure of ecstasy tablets in Bengaluru on August 21. They are Anoop Mohammed, a native of Vennala in Kochi, Rijesh Raveendran, of Thiruvilwamala in Thrissur; and Niyaz Muhammed, from Kaloor, Kochi.
Anoop Mohammed is reportedly a benami of Bineesh, the son of Kerala CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The ongoing Enforcement Directorate probe has arrived at this conclusion.
Deals set at hotel
The investigation team had found that the hotel, which was started in 2015 by Anoop, was purportedly a drug trading hub for overseas students, artists and others.
Rijesh and Kannada serial actress D Anikha arrested over the case have said in their statements to the Narcotics Control Bureau that the drug running was done under the cover of the hotel located at Kammanahalli.
The hotel remained shut for a while. According to Anoop’s statement, its operations were resumed in 2019 with the help of friends, including Bineesh, after renaming it as 'Spice Bae Restaurant’.
Bineesh and some young actors and singers in Malayalam had shared the promotion video of Spice Bae on Facebook.
Two more in the net
Following the arrests of Anoop, Rijesh and Anikha, a few more from the Kannada film world were netted. Actresses Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjjanaa Galrani were the prominent among the arrested.
The investigators also found that drugs were reaching Bengaluru from Kerala. The statement of Niyaz Muhammed, who was arrested in the case filed against the actresses, revealed the drugs links of a few people in the Kannada-Malayalam film industry.
It was later discovered that drugs bought using cryptocurrency were being smuggled in from abroad through various foreign post offices in India.
Interrogation by CCB, too
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) under the Bengaluru Police, which is also probing the drugs case, may seek Bineesh’s custody for questioning.
On September 9, the Enforcement Directorate’s Kochi unit had questioned Bineesh. Most of the questions were related to the commission received by the accused in the gold smuggling case in Kerala. Subsequently, the ED issued a letter to the Registration Department asking it to stop any transfer of Bineesh's assets in Kerala.
A phone number suspected to be of K T Ramees, one of the main accused in the gold smuggling case, was found in Anoop's phone. It is also suspected that gold was used as a "metal currency" to pay for drug trafficking.
Forex firm also under investigation
The ED is also investigating the financial sources of B Capitals Forex Trading, a company run under the ownership of Bineesh.
The company that Bineesh had started in partnership with Dharmadam native Anas Valiyaparambath on June 15, 2015, had not been filing its annual reports. The Registrar of Companies had frozen the activities of the company by pointing this out.
There are indications that the annual reports were not filed to hide the details of investors and the company’s activities.
