‘Bineesh Kodiyeri funded Bengaluru drug peddler’: Enforcement Directorate

A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kerala CPI(M) state secretary’s son Bineesh Kodiyeri the central agency said he was the financier of the drug cartel and pumped in huge amount of unaccounted fund into the bank account of drug peddler Anoop Mohammad.

In a statement, the ED said Mohammad was just a ‘benami’ of Kodiyeri and allegedly ensured fund from various sources for peddling drug. Bineesh was arrested by the ED in Bengaluru on Thursday and a court had remanded in the ED custody for four days.

Trouble began for Kodiyeri after the Bengaluru drug racket-accused Anoop Mohammad gave a statement to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) mentioning his name. He said Kodiyeri, second son of CPI(M) leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, had helped him a lot in his “business venture.” Later, his name also figured prominently in the call list of the alleged peddler.

The ED said Mohammad had admitted during his interrogation that he was just a ‘benami’ and Kodiyeri was the main funder of the psychedelic drug racket. “Fund trail investigation also found that a huge amount of unaccounted funds was regularly credited in Mohammad’s account by Kodiyeri. Later proceeds from sale were deposited back in various accounts of Kodiyeri,” said the ED. This was going on from 2017.

Now Kodiyeri is booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and later more cases will be slapped on him under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act by the NCB, a senior official said. The NCB will move a separate plea for custodial interrogation of Kodiyeri in a couple of days, he said.

During the investigation into Kerala gold smuggling case, the ED also found that there was a close link between gold smuggling and psychedelic drug cases. The smuggling case came to light on July 5 after 30 kilograms of gold was seized from a consignment came in the name of the United Arab Emirates consular office in Thiruvananthapuram. The drug surfaced on August 28 after the arrest of Anoop Mohammad and two others in Bengaluru. There are reports that third accused in gold smuggling case KT Ramees and Anoop Mohammad were friends. Sandalwood case involving many actors and Mohammad’s case are different.

A rape and cheating case was pending against Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s elder son Binoy Kodiyeri in Mumbai. A former bar dancer in Dubai had filed a police complaint against him alleging rape, cheating and breach of trust. A court in Mumbai had ordered him to undergo a DNA test to prove the woman’s charge that he fathered her child. When this case cropped up, the party came to Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s rescue saying, “parents can’t be blamed for their grown-up children’s doings.” But political observers said the latest one is a serious charge.