KOCHI/BENGALURU: The Enforcement Directorate team, investigating the money transactions behind the Bengaluru drug cartel, has found that Anoop Mohammed, a drug peddler arrested by the agency on October 17, was a 'benamidar' of CPM Kerala state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s son Bineesh Kodiyeri.
According to the ED, Bineesh had regularly credited huge amounts of unaccounted funds in Anoop’s account. These were preceded by large cash deposits in Kerala into the accounts of Bineesh
Kodiyeri, the agency said in a press release issued in Bengaluru.
The ED had arrested Bineesh Kodiyeri after grilling him for three-and-a-half hours on Thursday at its Bengaluru office. He was charged under Section 19 (1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He was produced before the Bengaluru City Civil Court which sent him to ED custody for four days.
The ED had initiated a probe against Anoop Mohammed based on the FIR registered by the Narcotics Control Bureau in Bengaluru on August 22. He was charged under sections 22, 27A, 28 and 29 of the NDPS Act.
According to the ED, Anoop Mohammed had admitted during interrogation that he was indulging in the sale and purchase of narcotic drugs and was closely associated with Bineesh Kodiyeri. He held various accounts and transferred the huge proceeds of the crime into them. An investigation into the fund trail established that huge amounts of unaccounted funds were being regularly credited into his accounts by Bineesh Kodiyeri, the ED said.
During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that Anoop Mohammed was a 'benamidar' of Bineesh and all his financial dealings were done on the instructions of the latter, who had paid huge amounts of money to him. He failed to explain these cash transactions and was completely evasive in his replies, the ED said.
Meanwhile, Kerala witnessed massive protests on Friday as the Congress and BJP launched agitations demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the backdrop of the arrests of former principal secretary to the Chief Minister M Sivasankar and Bineesh Kodiyeri.
The CPI on Friday rushed to the rescue of the beleaguered CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleging that the central agencies were foisting false cases against Bineesh Kodiyeri. The CPM Central Committee which meets on Friday is expected to discuss the political situation emerging in Kerala due to the arrest of the duo and evolve a strategy to counter the allegations of corruption in the Life Mission project targeting the Chief Minister.