Bengaluru drug case: CPI(M) leader's son Bineesh Kodiyeri sent to ED custody till Nov 2

NEW DELHI: Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of CPI(M) Kerala secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and sent to its custody till November 2 by a court in connection with a money laundering case related to the Bengaluru drugs case.

According to the ED, Bineesh Kodiyeri was arrested for the offence of money laundering under Section 19(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) on Thursday.

The economic offences watchdog said that Mohammed Anoop, a drug peddler arrested by the ED, had during his custodial interrogation inter-alia admitted that he was indulging in sale and purchase of narcotics drugs and was closely associated with Bineesh.

"During the course of the investigation, it is revealed that Mohammed Anoop is a Benamidar of Bineesh and all his financial dealings were done on the instructions of Bineesh who had paid huge amounts of money to Mohammed Anoop," the ED said in a statement.

The ED also said that the probe has revealed Anoop held various bank accounts and indulged in transferring and layering of huge proceeds of crime into several accounts.

However, Anoop could not explain these cash and fund transactions and was completely evasive in his replies, the ED said.

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"Fund trail investigation also established that a huge amount of unaccounted funds were being regularly credited in his accounts by Bineesh. These were preceded by large cash deposits in Kerala into the accounts of Bineesh," it added.

The ED has initiated an investigation against Mohammed Anoop and others based on an FIR registered by Narcotics Control Bureau, Bengaluru, registered under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.