The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday carried out searches at the residence of former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his son-in-law P A Mohamed Riyas and several others in connection with its probe into the CMRL money laundering case, officials said.
Raids are being conducted at a total of 10 premises across Kerala, including Vijayan’s rented residence in Thiruvananthapuram and Riyas' residence in Kozhikode.
Raids are also underway at the residences of CMRL senior officials simultaneously, reports said.
The ED action came after the High Court declined to quash the ED proceedings and cancellation of the summons issued by the central agency. The ED charge is that Exalogic, an IT firm owned by Veena T, daughter of the former CM, received Rs 1.72 crore from the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) over years for IT services, which were never delivered.
The allegation is that the payment was instead used to settle debts of Veena's company and thus passing down liability to the publicly-listed company.
The ED had registered a PMLA case in 2024 to investigate the allegations.
(With inputs from PTI)
