The Bengaluru city civil and sessions court rejected the bail plea of Bineesh Kodiyeri, who is the son of CPI(M) Kerala state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. He was arrested in October for his links to an accused in the Bengaluru drug peddling case - Anoop Muhammed. He will continue to remain in Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru.
He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate which is probing the case. The accused Mohammed Anoop was alleged to be a benami of Bineesh Kodiyeri. Bineesh was questioned twice by the Enforcement Directorate, first on October 3 and then on October 29, after which he was taken into custody. His arrest came as a blow to Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and the CPI(M) which is in power in the LDF government in Kerala.
The police launched a crackdown after the Narcotics Control Bureau arrested three persons in Bengaluru in August who were allegedly supplying drugs to the Kannada film actors and singers. The ED then arrested Bineesh Kodiyeri in a money laundering case linked to the drug seizure.
Bineesh was remanded to the custody of Narcotics Control Bureau on November 17 for custodial interrogation by the special Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court in Bengaluru due to his connection to Anoop who allegedly peddled drugs. He was sent back to Parappana Agrahara prison after four days.
The ED said that it will question others connected to Bineesh in the investigation. Bineesh stated that he and Anoop were friends, and that he had held transactions with the latter about starting a hotel a few years ago.
Anoop was arrested earlier and he was connected to another woman Anikha who was arrested in August. The NCB seized 270 MDMA pills weighing 111.6 gm from her residence in Doddagubbi in Bengaluru.