Pinarayi Vijayan, former Chief Minister of Keralam and present Chief of the Opposition.
| Photograph Credit score: ANI
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has despatched an in depth report back to the State Police Chief of Keralam in search of registration of a separate first data report (FIR) below the Prevention of Corruption Act and different related legal guidelines in opposition to Chief of the Opposition and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former Public Works Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas, and T. Veena, who’s Mr. Vijayan’s daughter and Mr. Riyas’s partner, in the Exalogic–Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) pay-off case.
The report, which was despatched on Monday (September 7, 2026) reportedly said that the proof recovered by the Central company within the case below Part 66(2) of the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) warranted registration of a case.
The CPI(M) has been on a collision course with the ED, accusing the company of finishing up a political hit job concentrating on Mr. Vijayan and his household on behalf of the Central authorities.
Sources in ED mentioned it could perform a radical corruption-related investigation as soon as an FIR has been registered.
Fees in ED report
The report accused Mr. Vijayan of receiving a bribe of ₹3.28 crore by his daughter, based mostly on the alleged admission of CMRL’s former Chief Monetary Officer Suresh Kumar. Mr. Riyas was accused of “receipt of bribes and switch of such bribe funds to Dubai by Veena and recognized associates.” Ms. Veena allegedly “assisted Mr. Vijayan and Mr. Riyas in amassing and routing bribe funds.” Exalogic Options Non-public Restricted was allegedly used for “routing sham funds.” S.N. Sasidharan Kartha, Managing Director of CMRL, was accused of paying bribes, whereas CMRL’s sister concern Empower India Capital Investments Non-public Restricted was accused of transferring bribes.
Final month, the ED claimed to have discovered “sure handwritten accounts maintained by Ms. Veena pertaining to ₹85 lakh allegedly transferred to Dubai.” The notes contained “names of individuals, quantities dealt with, spent” apart from the quantity transferred to Dubai. All individuals named in Ms. Veena’s handwritten accounts, together with the person who had supplied the SIM card, had been lined through the search, in accordance with an ED launch.
The Kochi zonal workplace of the ED had performed search operations at 9 premises in Kozhikode on August 18 below the PMLA in reference to the case.
In Could, the ED claimed to have frozen ₹18.36 crore throughout 242 accounts recognized throughout search operations at a number of areas, together with Mr. Vijayan’s rented home in Thiruvananthapuram and his ancestral residence in Kannur.
The company launched the investigation following findings of the Critical Fraud Investigation Workplace (SFIO) into alleged company fraud and bribe funds. SFIO investigations revealed fictitious money bills of ₹182 crore made by CMRL over a span of 15 years, allegedly used to bribe varied individuals, the ED mentioned.
One of many faux bills booked by CMRL was in the direction of funds made to Ms. Veena. Exalogic Options Non-public Restricted, the now-defunct firm owned by her, had allegedly obtained fraudulent funds totalling ₹2.78 crore from CMRL below the guise of IT consultancy providers.
Moreover, Empower India Capital Investments Non-public Restricted, operated by Sasidharan Kartha, prolonged loans of ₹50 lakh to Exalogic regardless of the agency failing to make well timed repayments, the SFIO alleged.
Printed – September 08, 2026 12:52 pm IST
