The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has launched an operation against former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter. CPI(M) workers attacked a vehicle carrying ED officials on Wednesday. Protesters grabbed the ED car and smashed its windshield. The incident sparked massive protests and police lathicharge in the state capital.
The ED team included a female officer and their vehicle was targeted in a heated situation. Police and central security forces struggled to control the situation. The ED raided 10 places in Kerala including the former chief minister’s current residence in Thiruvananthapuram, his ancestral home in Kannur and the residence of his son-in-law and former minister Mohammad Reas in Kozhikode. During the raid, Vijayan and his family members were inside the house while hundreds of CPI(M) workers raised slogans against the ED outside. Some of the protesters pelted plastic bottles, helmets and stones at the security personnel, but senior party leaders later brought the situation under control.
Exalgic Solutions, owned by Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter T Veena, was allegedly paid Rs 1.72 crore by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), without taking any services. The ED took this action in the transaction during 2018 and the raid came just after the Kerala High Court rejected CMRL’s plea to quash the ED’s proceedings.
CPIM General Secretary MA Baby termed ED’s raid as purely politically motivated and called it a heinous attack. He said, they will prove the political motive behind the campaign to the people. Pinarayi Vijayan, meanwhile, denied all allegations against his daughter, saying it was an attempt to malign her image. Vijayan, who resigned from the government after being defeated by the Congress-led UDF in the recent Kerala Assembly elections, currently serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly.