Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court stayed the trial court's proceedings in the Enforcement Directorate case against Bineesh Kodiyeri.
The court expressed doubt if the case against him will stand. Though Bineesh approached the trial court saying the case has no locus standi, his plea was rejected. The Karnataka HC stayed the proceedings based on this plea. His name was deleted from a drug use case earlier.
Bineesh is the son of late CPM stalwart Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. He had been arrested on October 29, 2020, for allegedly transferring Rs 50 lakh to the operator of an alleged drug racket. He was granted bail in October 2021.
The series of events that led to Bineesh's imprisonment started with the Narcotics Control Bureau arresting Kannada actor D Anikha and two Malayalis - Anoop Muhammad and Rijesh Raveendran - in August 2020 from Kochi.
Bineesh's alleged involvement came to light after the ED questioned Anoop. Even though Bineesh claimed that he had only loaned the amount to Anoop for starting a hotel in Bengaluru, the ED took him into custody based on his bank dealings.
Anoop's debit card was seized from Bineesh's house in Thiruvananthapuram. The investigators claimed that Bineesh's signature was on the card.
The ED argued that Anoop was Bineesh's benami and that the firms, B Capital Financial Services and B Capital Forex Trading Pvt Ltd, which he purportedly owned, were shell companies.
