Karnataka High Court Grants Bail To Kerala CPI(M) Leader's Son Bineesh Kodiyeri In PMLA Case

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday allowed the bail application filed by Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of Kerala CPI (M) leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

A single Judge bench of Justice M G Uma pronounced the order today the court said "The criminal petition is allowed subject to conditions." The report will be updated once the detailed order is made available. Bineesh Kodiyeri was arrested a year ago, on October 29, 2020, and since then he has been under custody.

Arguments

Senior Advocate Guru Krishnakumar appearing for the accused who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on October 29, 2020 had submitted "On the very allegation made by ED that there was illegal drug trade financed by the petitioner, out of which proceeds of crime were generated which are being held as untainted. The present proceeding cannot be sustained because the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has not found the petitioner to be involved in the illegal drug trade in any manner after thorough investigation."

Further, he had pointed out that NCB had arrested accused Mohammed Anoop in the case for his alleged role in drug trafficking and when Bineesh was in the judicial custody of the ED, his custody was taken for probing his involvement in the drugs case. Advocate Krishnakumar said "They (NCB) found he was not involved in the offence. NCB has filed a report in which I am not named as an accused. There are 10 other accused, this is after investigation," he submitted.

Krishnakumar also took the court through the payments made by Bineesh to Anoop for starting a hospitality business in Bangalore, by mortgaging a property in Kerala. He submitted "All the payments made to co-accused Mohammed Anoop are through banking channels."

It was also contended by him that under section 27A of the NDPS, which deals with punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders, "If NCB would have found any material against me (Kodiyeri), they could have prosecuted me under the NDPS Act, but they found none, so no case was registered."

He added "The case of ED is that I financed a drug trade and out of financing drug trade proceeds were generated. That case cannot stand because NCB has not found anything against me. Thus the PMLA proceedings initiated against me are standing in air without any basis."

Krishnakumar also claimed that the seizure of a debit card belonging to accused Mohammed Anoop from the house of Bineesh was planted on him during the search operation carried out when he was in custody. He said "See after all the investigation, so many statements recorded and documents recovered, the best case of ED is that they suspect I have withdrawn the cash amount from the Indusind bank account using the debit card recovered from my house."

He added "It is so easy for ED to find out whether there was any cash withdrawal from the bank account, there is no such withdrawal, even today they are saying it is suspected." Further he contended "Today in the present age the past system of having a signature on the back of debit and credit cards has completely gone. No debit or credit cards operate on signatures to be verified, it all operates on the basis of OTP. Moreover, the debit card is in the name of the hotel (operated by Mohammed Anoop) which is now defunct. Subsequently details of the bank account were sought and the bank has said there is a deposit of Rs 20 lakh and not withdrawal. Next they say they suspect that I withdrew the amount. Please see how hollow the entire case is," he pleaded.

Krishnakumar also said "This is a very very peculiar case, which lacks complete merit. What the ED has done is taken some facts from the activities of Anoop and his bank accounts, taken the fact that I have given him (Anoop) some amount as loan and then taken cash deposits in my account and taken an irrelevant statement of another accused that he saw me consuming drugs with Anoop. Like that 10 completely disconnected facts they are all joined together to project a case of money laundering."

He also contended that "Today the investigation has been completed and the chargesheet has been filed. There is no question of tampering with that, they have had my full custody. The Witnesses named are official witnesses and private persons. The questions of tampering cannot arise."

Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi appearing for the respondents had opposed the petition and sought for dismissal of the petition.

Case Background:

Mohammed Anoop - was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Bengaluru, after he was found in possession of 60 grams of MDMA tablets (a psychotropic substance) in his residence. Later he was arrested by ED.

It is alleged that Mohammed Anoop was made a 'benamidar' for one of Bineesh's restaurants.He has also accepted that "Bineesh is his boss and he did whatever Binesh Kodiyeri told him to do for which Bineesh used to pay him."

It is also alleged that Investigation under PMLA further revealed that the application department is having sufficient material with reasons to believe that the said accused is guilty of the offence of money laundering under section 3 of the Act and punishable under section 4 of the Act.

Case Title: BVINEESH KODIYERI And DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT

Case No: CRL.P 2344/2021