Bineesh's wife alleges evidence being planted in house

Bineesh was arrested under the charges of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He is under ED custody till Saturday when he will be produced in the court at Bengaluru.

Thiruvananthapuram:With the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid at Bineesh Kodiyeri's residence coming to an end at 11 a.m on Thursday afternoon in connection with drugs-related money laundering case, Renita, his wife has alleged that the agency planted evidence at their home and even forced her to sign some documents.

Reportedly, Renita stated that she was asked to sign papers that ED said their officials had found an electronic payment card from the house.

ED said they have found a card (ATM card) belonging to Anoop Mohammed from the house and asked Renita to sign agreeing to it, to which she declined.

"The ED even told us that they will ‘save’ Bineesh if I sign those papers. However, we did not budge. We maintained that we will not sign in any paper that said the ED found the things that were not in our house. Bineesh is still in jail also because I have not signed the papers," Renitha told the media.

While the ED was leaving Bineesh’s house, the policemen attached to the Poojappura Police Station in Thiruvananthapuram blocked their vehicle and the Cantonment Assistant Commissioner (AC) Suneesh Babu asked the ED officials for an explanation on why they had stayed at Bineesh’s house for more than 24 hours in the name of the raid.

The police let the ED vehicle leave only after the ED team assured Poojappura AC that they will give him an explanation.

KV Manoj Kumar, chairperson of Commission for protection of Child Rights and other members of the Commission reached the house. Although, CRPF did not allow them either inside the house the Commission Chairperson kept shouting out that they had the judicial authority to do so. The commission issued a notice immediately demanding an explanation for withholding children for more than 24 hours.

After the CRPF personnel took the notice inside and handed over to the ED team, Bineesh’s wife Reneetta, their daughter and Reneetta’s mother Mini, came out of the house along with the CRPF personnel.

And as they talked to the relatives standing outside the gate, a woman constable with the CRPF forcefully took Bineesh’s wife back into the house.

The raid that started on Wednesday morning continued for the second day on Thursday at Bineesh Kodiyeri residence, who is Kerala CPI-M secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan son, and the family lives together.

Earlier in the day, a group of relatives, including two women sat in protest outside the house and demanded to be allowed in the house to meet the family, who had not stepped out since Wednesday morning.

A woman, claiming to be the sister of Balakrishnan's wife, had told the media that their only request was that one of them be allowed to meet the family.

"We are sending food to them and it is now beyond 24 hours since the raid began. We want to know if the food is being eaten by our relatives or is it being consumed by the ED team. We will not go from here until our request is met," said the sister of Balakrishnan's wife. Inside the house is the wife of Bineesh, their three-year-old child and her parents.

Following the commotion, top Kerala Police officials arrived at the spot and after talks with the ED officials, they came and told the protesting relatives that those inside the house said 'they do not wish to see anyone'.

The raid had continued through the night and the house had been strictly manned by the CRPF and also a few Karnataka police officials.

The protesters said: "We do not believe what Kerala Police just conveyed. This is just a cooked up story. We know she (Bineesh's wife) will never say that. We want one of us to be sent inside the house."

The ED had ended its raids at five other places connected with Bineesh Kodiyeri's business interests on Wednesday night.

The officials said the raids were a follow-up on the information that they got from Bineesh, who has been in their custody since October 29.

Bineesh was arrested under the charges of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He is in their custody till Saturday when he will be produced in the court at Bengaluru.

(With inputs from PTI)