A day after it arrested Bineesh Kodiyeri, the son of Kerala CPI-(M) leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Friday that he allegedly credited ‘huge amount of unaccounted funds’ into the bank accounts of a drug peddler. Bineesh was arrested by the central probe agency under the anti-money laundering law in Bengaluru on Thursday following which a local court sent him to Enforcement Directorate custody till Nov 2. The ED alleged that the drug peddler in this case, Mohammed Anoop, was a ‘benamidar’ of Bineesh. Benamidar is a person in whose name the benami property is held or transferred, and a beneficial owner of the person for whose benefit the property is being held by the benamidar. Anoop was also arrested by the ED on October 17 in this case.

The ED probe stems from a Narcotics Control Bureau investigation that claimed to have busted an ecstasy pills drug trafficking racket in Karnataka in August along with the arrest of Anoop and two others. The ED issued a statement and claimed that Anoop, during his custodial interrogation, ‘admitted that he was indulging in sale and purchase of narcotics drugs and was closely associated with Bineesh Kodiyeri.’ ‘It is also revealed that he (Anoop) held various bank accounts and indulged in transferring/layering of huge proceeds of crime into various accounts,’ the ED claimed.

‘These were preceded by large cash deposits in Kerala into the accounts of Bineesh Kodiyeri,’ the ED alleged. The agency claimed ‘Anoop is a benamidar of Bineesh Kodiyeri and all his financial dealings were done on the instructions of Bineesh who had paid huge amounts of money to him.’ ‘He could not explain these cash and fund transactions and was completely evasive in his replies,’ the ED said. The NCB had claimed in the past that ‘prominent musicians and actors’ in Karnataka are under its scanner after this operation. The three arrested in this case are accused of supplying drugs to Kannada film actors and singers. Bineesh has maintained that he knew Anoop and his family and the latter had borrowed money from him and some others for setting up the restaurant business in Bengaluru a few years ago.

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