ED freeze on property transactions linked to Bineesh, wife

Thiruvananthapuram: Instructions have been issued to freeze the transfer of assets of Bineesh Kodiyeri, who was arrested in a money-laundering case linked to a drug seizure in Karnataka by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This includes the house, named Kodiyeri, at Maruthankuzhy in Thiruvananthapuram district and the assets in the name of Reneetta, Bineesh's wife.

Bineesh's father Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who stepped down as the CPM state secretary last week, earlier stayed at the house at Maruthankuzhy.

Soon after Bineesh's arrest, the house at Maruthankuzhy was raided. Subsequently, Bengaluru ED deputy director Rahul Sinha shot off a missive to the state registration IG, seeking details of Bineesh's properties.

The registration department had informed the ED that the house at Maruthankuzhy and the ancestral home in Kannur that he had inherited were the only properties in Bineesh's name.

Based on the ED's letter, department-level instructions have been given to all sub-registrar offices in the state that no transaction on these assets should be carried out.

Bineesh is accused of funding a drug trade. Assets are restored only if it is proven in court that the money was not made through unlawful means.

He was arrested on October 29 under charges of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He is currently lodged in a Bengaluru jail after a local court awarded a 14-day judicial custody to the ED on November 11.

Drug-peddler Anoop Mohammed was also arrested in the case. The transfer of assets belonging to his mother Arifa Beevi has also been blocked.