Thiruvananthapuram: After his first round of questioning for over 10 hours by the Enforcement Directorate, tough days seem ahead for CPI-M State Secretary Kodiyari Balakrishnan’s son Bineesh Kodiyeri as the ED is set to quiz him again as well as his associates.
Bineesh ran into trouble after his friend Anoop Mohammed was picked up by the Narcotics Control Bureau in Bengaluru and the former went public that he had given Rs 6 lakh to Anoop for starting a restaurant.
Interestingly, after lengthy questioning by the ED on Wednesday, Bineesh preferred to maintain silence on the development. In the past, whenever he came under attack in the media, he used to hit back through the social media.
According to those in the know of things, Bineesh is understood to have told the ED that he got commissions through various real estate deals and in getting things done for various businessmen.
This statement of Bineesh seems to have landed him in more trouble as the ED has questioned a few of his business associates and plans to shortly call in more persons with whom he had had dealings.
Bineesh is said to be engaged in various businesses, including real estate, restaurants, car accessories, and tourism, along with a few cash-rich business associates.
Bineesh, in his thirties, first came into public limelight when Balakrishnan became the Kerala Home Minister in 2006. Since then, the graph of both the father and son has been on the rise.
Balakrishnan gained in stature within the party after becoming a politburo member and CPI-M State Secretary in 2015.
On the other hand, Bineesh made entry into the Malayalam film industry and rubbed shoulders with the industry bigwigs. In Celebrity Cricket League, Bineesh became a member of Kerala Strikers team led by superstar Mohanlal.
Through his links cutting across sectors, Bineesh’s stock rose hugely. He had the right contacts and even his closeness with Kerala Police officials at all levels helped him immensely.
KM Shahjahan, a former Private Secretary to CPI-M stalwart VS Achuthanandan, said: “What is his qualification? Did he ever do any job? All along, he has been using the name of the party and his father to build his business empire.”
Balakrishnan has gone on record to say that his son will handle whatever he is involved in, and no one need to target him because of his son.
While the Congress and the BJP have taken on the Communist Party of India-Marxist in a big way, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had been fending off opposition attack but is now preferring to stay away from the media.
Meanwhile, with the ED all set to call in Bineesh again for questioning, the CPI-M leadership in Kerala can only wait anxiously for the outcome.
