BENGALURU: Exactly a year after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Bengaluru zone, under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, Bineesh Kodiyeri was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court on Thursday. Bineesh is the son of Kerala CPM leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
Bineesh has been lodged in judicial custody in Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara since his arrest on October 29, 2020 under Section 19 (1) of the PMLA, after his name surfaced during the interrogation of drug accused Mohammed Anoop. Mohammed was arrested in August last year by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru zone under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
According to sources, Bineesh may be released from prison on Friday. Justice MG Uma, at Dharwad Bench of Karnataka High Court, pronounced the judgement allowing the petition filed by Bineesh with conditions.
Bineesh had moved the High Court in March 2021 after the special court dismissed his bail plea on February 22, 2021. The ED contended that Bineesh, who is accused number 4, was involved in financing the drug business of Mohammed Anoop, who is accused number 1, and others involved in the crime.
It was argued that the investigation disclosed Bineesh's active connivance in the offence. Thus he was bringing profits from the illegal business of drug dealings into the mainstream financial system to escape from the clutches of law enforcement agencies, including ED.
The ED stated that Bineesh was actively connected with possession or use and projecting or claiming it as untainted property and was guilty of offence of money laundering. Thereby, he has committed the scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and generated the process of crime. Thus, he committed the offence of money laundering under Section of the Act punishable under Section 4 of the Act.
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 over 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 which Rijesh and Anoop are shown as partners and directors. Bineesh has funded Anoop's narcotic drugs business in Bengaluru. The latter's financial dealings were done on the instructions of Bineesh. Investigation revealed that Anoop is benaamidar of Bineesh Kodiyeri," the ED had claimed, along with "gross mismatch between Bineesh's income tax returns and his actual income in the last few years".