BENGALURU: On Monday, a special court extended the enforcement directorate’s custody of Bineesh Kodiyeri –son of CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and accused in a money-laundering scam – by five days.
ED told the court that it is trying to establish hawala transactions worth over Rs 5.17 crore between Bineesh and his aide, drug dealer Mohammed Anoop, who was arrested by narcotics control bureau. Bineesh has failed to cooperate with the investigation, ED said.
On Monday evening, ED officers escorted Bineesh to court hall number 34 in the city civil court complex and presented him before the special judge. Bineesh’s lawyers claimed he is unwell and the case politically motivated as all transactions being probed were done through cheques.
Special prosecutor P Prasanna Kumar, on the other hand, said Bineesh is a habitual offender with 10 cases registered against him in Kerala and one in Dubai. Bineesh had transferred Rs 5,17,36,600 to two of Mohammed’s bank accounts in Bengaluru through two shell companies and other channels between 2012 and 2019, Kumar claimed.
Bineesh is politically influential and needs to be quizzed about the large sum of money he had transferred to the drug dealer. ED wasn’t able to question him properly in the money-laundering case for two-and-a-half days as he’d refused to cooperate claiming he was unwell, Kumar told the court, arguing that ED needs another 10 days’ custody for interrogation.
The special judge then extended Bineesh’s custody till Saturday.