The High Court of Karnataka granted bail to Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of former Kerala State secretary of CPI(M) Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to alleged financing of illegal drug trade.
Justice M.G. Uma passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Bineesh in March this year after a special court had on February 22, 2021 declined to grant bail to him.
“The petition is allowed subject to conditions,” the judge said while pronouncing the order on the petition.
It was the case of the ED that Bineesh is involved in financing the drug business of Mohammed Anoop, the prime accused, and others involved in the crime. The ED had stated that Bineesh, who is arraigned as accused number 4 in the case, had ‘active connivance’ in the offence and was bringing profit from the illegal drug dealings business into the mainstream financial system to evade law enforcement agencies.
He was actively connected to possession or use and projecting or claiming the money as untainted property and is guilty of money laundering under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and had generated proceeds of crime, the ED had alleged.