ED files plea in apex court to cancel bail of politburo member's son

New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, April 9 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of the bail given by the Karnataka High Court to Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Bineesh was in jail for an year and got a conditional bail by a bench of the Karnataka High Court in October last year.

He was arrested by the Bengaluru division of the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and since October 29 2020, he was in a jail in Bengaluru, till he secured bail on October 28, 2021.

Bineesh's close aide Anoop Mohammed was first picked up by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and was jailed in Bengaluru and it was after his arrest, Bineesh was questioned and later arrested.

After he got a bail, his counsel said that Bineesh is into business of vegetables and fish.

In the past seven years he was asked to produce accounts of the business he did worth over Rs 5 crore. This does not even come to Rs 1 crore a year, the ED said.

Stating that he is yet to give conclusive proof on his source of funds, the probe agency has now filed the fresh petition to cancel his bail on grounds that some remarks in his bail will be affecting the trial in the case which the high court failed to go into the details. Besides, a few of his associates are yet to turn up for questioning.

Incidentally, towards the end of 2020 after the arrest of his son, just before the local body polls, Balakrishnan was given leave for his medical treatment as the CPI-M reportedly found it tough to defend the acts of his son.

A year later, after his son got a bail, Balakrishnan was brought back as secretary in December last year and at the State Party Conference in February he was re-elected for a third and last successive three year term.

But the news of the ED's move came on Saturday when the 23rd Party Congress that got underway on April 6 is on the verge of concluding on Sunday at Kannur. Balakrishnan is one of the key organisers of the event.

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