The embattled Pinarayi Vijayan-led CPM government which is already in trouble for its poor management of COVID-19 and gold smuggling case suffered another major embarrassment when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on October 29 arrested Bineesh Kodiyeri, the younger son of senior Kerala Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) General Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, in connection with a narcotics case, reports Swarjya.
Bineesh Kodiyeri was already under the scanner of ED for his links with drug peddler Mohammed Anoop, who is a key accused in the Bengaluru drug case.
Kodiyeri on 9 September was grilled for over 11 hours by the ED with regards to the gold smuggling racket that has links to the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
After the arrest of Mohammed Anoop, in connection with the drug trafficking racket in Bengaluru that involved Kannada and Malayalam actors, the involvement of Bineesh Kodiyeri started to emerge. During his interrogation conducted by the National Crime Bureau (NCB), Mohammed Anoop in a statement gave details of his close ties with Bineesh Kodiyeri.
NCB also checked phone records to confirm that Mohammed Anoop was in regular touch with Bineesh Kodiyeri. Mohammad was involved in buying and distributing synthetic drugs such as MDMA and selling it to college students at rave parties in Bangalore.
During his interrogation, Mohammed Anoop told the NCB that Kodiyeri had lent him money to acquire property on lease in Kammanahalli locality in Bengaluru five years ago.
Bineesh Kodiyeri is already in serious trouble for his involvement in the gold smuggling case which security experts consider it haveing serious national security issues. It was discovered that using diplomatic channels, 30 kg gold, worth Rs 14.82 crores was smuggled in a consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage.
However, the Customs in Thiruvananthapuram on July 5 busted this operation and at present Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s elder son Bineesh, faces serious charges of financial fraud and cheating. He is also accused in a rape and cheating case filed in Mumbai by a former bar dancer in Dubai hailing from Maharashtra, alleging rape, cheating, and breach of trust.
For his mounting, trouble, a Mumbai court had ordered him to undergo a DNA test to prove the woman’s charge that he fathered her child. Manorama News in 2018, had reported that Binoy Kodiyeri faced accusations of cheating a Dubai-based travel agency of Rs 13 crore.