BENGALURU: Exactly a year after he was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Bengaluru zone, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, Bineesh Kodiyeri was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court on Thursday.
Bineesh, the son of CPM politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, has been in judicial custody and lodged in Bengaluru Central Prison at Parapanna Agrahara since his arrest in October last year. According to sources, he may be released from prison on Friday, after completing post-bail formalities. The ED had arrested Bineesh on October 29 last year under after his name had surfaced during the interrogation of drug accused Mohammed Anoop, who was arrested in August last year by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru zone.
The ED, on December 26, 2020, had filed the prosecution complaint against Bineesh and his two associates, Anoop and Rijesh Ravindran, under the PMLA before the designated court. The ED had stated that Bineesh has seven to eight bank accounts in Kerala in which unaccounted cash deposits running into crores of rupees have reportedly been deposited by unknown sources in the last four to five years.
“He has indulged in transferring/layering huge proceeds of crime into various bank accounts,” the ED had stated. “Bineesh had reportedly created some shell companies in some of which Rijesh and Anoop are shown as partner and director. Bineesh has funded Anoop’s narcotic drugs business in Bengaluru.”
During the bail petition, the counsel of Bineesh argued that with charges under NDPS not slapped against him in the chargesheet, there was no point in extending custody. Bineesh approached high court as trial court dismissed his bail pleas. In the HC too, the petition was transferred to three different benches, delaying the process for weeks.
Bineesh’s arrest had triggered a political storm in the state, leading to Kodiyeri’s decision to seek leave from the office of the CPM state secretary. His bail came at a time when CPM local conferences are in session. According to sources in CPM, bail for Bineesh would be a big boost to Kodiyeri’s chances to reclaim the office of secretary. If he doesn’t cite health reason to keep out, Kodiyeri has high chances to be re-elected as the secretary in the state conference scheduled in Kochi, early next year.