More bad news for Kerala CPI-M as former secretary's son in NCB custody

Bengaluru/Thiruvananthapuram, November 17, 2020

Trouble is mounting for the ruling CPI-M in Kerala, with the Bengaluru unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) taking former state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's son Bineesh Kodiyeri into custody.

Bineesh was last week sent to 14-days judicial custody by a court in Bengaluru in a case registered by the Enforcement Directorate under the charges of Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is housed at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.

The NCB officials arrived at the prison and took him into custody.

His close friend and business aide Anoop Mohammed has been housed in the same jail for well over a month now and the police say they've been able to establish a link between the two.

Ever since the ED arrest of Bineesh took place on October 29th, his father Balakrishnan's position as the state secretary was shaky and the national leadership of the party backed him initially.

But things turned for the worse, with the Congress and the BJP mounting their attack, demanding his resignation. On November 13, on expected lines, the party gave him an honourable exit by granting him "leave" for his medical treatment.

Bineesh, 36, has been engaged in numerous business ventures over the years besides being a key person in the Kerala Cricket Association, not to mention a film star and a member of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes.

His meteoric rise, for long, has been a topic of much debate in Kerala.

IANS