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'Let Law Take Its Course': IUML Reacts

IUML leader and Keralam Industrial Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty reacted to the Enforcement Directorate’s reported recommendation to register a case against Pinarayi Vijayan, saying that the government’s approach was to let the law take its course. He said various aspects of the matter needed to be considered and that further action would be taken based on the merits of the case. Kunhalikutty said the ED investigation against Pinarayi Vijayan should not be compared with the investigation involving Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, as the two were different cases.

ED Seeks FIR in CMRL Case

This comes after the ED on Tuesday formally approached the Kerala Police seeking registration of an FIR against Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter T Veena and son-in-law PA Mohamed Riyas under charges of corruption, officials said. The ED’s Kochi zone is learnt to have written to Kerala Police last week, seeking registration of the FIR as part of its ongoing investigation into the CMRL financial transactions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The development follows searches conducted by the agency at multiple locations in Kerala and Bengaluru in connection with the case. In May, ED officials searched 10 premises linked to CMRL directors SN Sasidharan Kartha, Saran S Kartha, Veena and her company Exalogic Solutions Private Limited. The agency said it had recovered records, digital evidence, investment details and bank fixed deposits during the searches and had frozen around Rs 18.36 crore across nearly 242 accounts.

Pinarayi Defends Daughter Amid Allegations

Earlier, former Keralam Chief Minister and State Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday defended his daughter Veena Vijayan amid allegations related to transactions involving her company and Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), saying all payments were properly accounted for and taxes were paid. "My daughter is a young woman working in the computer sector. To me, she is still a child. After completing her studies, she worked at Oracle, a world-famous IT company. She left the job when continuing it after marriage became difficult. In the meantime, she has worked in foreign countries as well. Had she continued there, she would have grown to a very high salary scale. Following that, an attempt was made to start her own company. That company provides services to many people. It provides services to many establishments. At one point, a news report I used to hear was that those receiving the services included religious extremists. That there were institutions of religious extremists. It is a very famous charitable trust," he said

"Among that group was the transaction that took place with the CMRL company. The remuneration paid in the transaction with my daughter's company was not a secret matter. That is a matter concerning companies. Accurate taxes have been paid for all of that. Everything has proper accounting and records. At one point, this was raised as an allegation. At that point, Muhammad Riyas was not Veena's husband," Vijayan said. (ANI)