KOCHI: The Customs has issued a summons to interrogate former CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s wife Vinodini Balakrishnan for using an iPhone purchased by Unitac owner Santhosh Eapen. The department has directed Vinodini to appear for interrogation on March 10 at the Customs office in Kochi.
Customs officials told The New Indian Express that they served the notice to Vinodhini after a probe found that the iPhone with the specific IMEI number was used by a mobile number taken in the address of Vinodhini. This particular iPhone was one of six mobile phones which were distributed by Eapen as a gift for awarding him the Vadakancherry Life Mission project.
In his statement to the Customs, Eapen had already revealed that he gave a bribe for obtaining the Life Mission contract. The Customs found that he had distributed mobile phones to the Chief Minister's former principal secretary M Sivasankar and additional protocol officer Rajeevan apart from the then acting UAE Consul General Rashid Khamis Al Sheimeili. The Customs is learnt to have recovered the SIM card of the phone.
The iPhone issue has put senior CPM leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who had stepped down as state secretary of the party in November last year, in a tight spot. His son Bineesh Kodiyeri is already in jail in Bengaluru in connection with a drugs case.