Special court extends Bineesh Kodiyeri’s ED custody

BENGALURU: Bineesh Kodiyeri, who has been arrested on charges of funding a drug cartel, has been remanded in Directorate of Enforcement (ED) custody for five more days, till Saturday, by the Special Court for ED cases.

Bineesh, son of CPI(M)’s Kerala state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, was arrested by the ED under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, last Thursday. As his custody ended on Monday, the ED officials produced him before the court in the evening. The court had earlier remanded him in ED custody for four days.

The ED submitted to the court that the accused was not cooperating with the investigation and dodged inquiry citing health problems, due to which they could not question him for two-and-a-half days. The central agency also informed the court that Bineesh was a habitual offender and had 10 cases against him in Kerala and one more in Dubai.

It brought to the notice of the court that the investigations had revealed that the accused had created various shell companies and had made unaccounted transactions to the tune of `3.5 crore. Further, the agency told the court that besides funding the drug racket, the accused himself was consuming drugs, as per the statement of Mohammed Anoop, the drug dealer arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). Citing that the custodial interrogation of the accused is needed in connection with `3.5 crore unaccounted transactions, the ED requested the court to extend his custody for 10 more days.

Meanwhile, the advocate representing the accused argued that it was a politically motivated case and his client had disclosed all financial transactions to the agencies concerned. Following ED’s request, the court extended Bineesh’s custody.