THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The personnel of the Poojapura police station wanted a statement from the team members since Bineesh’s father-in-law had filed a complaint alleging illegal detention of the family members. However, ED officers were allowed to leave when they said they would communicate later.
The Poojapura police also sent a notice to the ED asking the officers who were part of the raid to give statements in person. The police also sought the names and details of all officers. The e-mail was sent on Thursday when the raid was progressing at the house.
Soon after the ED team left, Renitta told mediapersons that her family was put to immense distress by the investigators. They tried to force her to sign a document saying that the credit card was seized from the house, she said.
“None of us saw ED recovering the card until they asked me to sign the document in the night. The team pressured me to sign. They said it would help secure Bineesh’s release and even asked me whether I would sign if Bineesh asked me to do so over the phone. But I refused to budge,” Renitta told the large posse of media persons outside the house.
She said ED seized her mother’s iPhone which she also used. Bineesh was not a “boss or don” and was innocent, she said. Bineesh’s mother-in-law said the team of six officers searched only one bedroom.
“The rest of the time, they chatted and snacked. The only evidence they have recorded in the document is the credit card,” she said. The card is reportedly of Anoop, key accused in the high-profile drug case registered by the Narcotics Control Bureau in Bengaluru.
On Thursday morning, some relatives of Bineesh, including his maternal aunt, staged a sit-in in front of the house after they were denied entry into the house. Just before the raid concluded, his wife and mother-in-law came out of the house and spoke to the relatives. Bineesh’s father-in-law has also written to ED alleging illegal detention of his family members.
State police chief Loknath Behera told mediapersons that there were no issues between the police and ED. But he did not respond to a question on the family’s police complaint.
State Child Rights Commission Chairman Manoj Kumar said ED acted against the law by preventing him from entering the house. Since the commission was a judicial forum, it was entitled to entry, he said.
The commission later registered a case based on the complaint of the Kodiyeri family. It served notice on the ED and asked the Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner to submit a report on the incident.