CMRL pay-off case raids: ED freezes ₹18.36 cr in 242 accounts, calls attack on search teams a conspiracy

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), probing the CMRL pay-off case, on Wednesday, froze around 242 bank accounts with deposits to the tune of ₹18.36 crore, following search operations on 10 premises, including the residences of Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan.

According to the press note issued by the ED, several incriminating records, accounts, digital evidence, investments and Bank FDs were found. The ED said the recovered evidence is being analysed.

The ED, Kochi Zone, conducted raids on Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), its directors S N Sasidharan Kartha, Saran S Kartha, Veena Vijayan (daughter of Pinarayi Vijayan) and her company Exalogic Solutions Private Limited. The searches were conducted across various locations in Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru.

The Income Tax department detected fake expenses totalling ₹130 crore in CMRL in January 2019. CMRL admitted these expenses before the Income Tax Settlement Commission. A complaint was made before the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) based on the findings of the Income Tax department, and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs directed a probe. While the SFIO initiated a probe, the ED also began investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. This was challenged by the CMRL.

A prosecution complaint was filed by the SFIO on April 3, 2025, against Sasidharan Kartha and 12 others at the Additional Sessions Court -4, Ernakulam. As per the complaint, Kartha and his son Saran received a cumulative remuneration of ₹30.63 crore from 2015-16 to 2022-23 despite no dividend payments. The SFIO probe also revealed fictitious cash expenses of ₹182 crores over a span of 15 years to bribe various persons.

One of the fake expenses booked by CMRL is towards the payment to Veena. It was found that her company, Exalogic Solutions Private Limited, received fraudulent payments totalling ₹2.78 crores from the CMRL in the guise of IT consultancy services. Further, Empower India Capital Investment Private Limited, operated by Kartha, the CMRL MD, extended loans of ₹50 lakhs to Veena’s company despite Exalogic failing to make timely repayments.

The High Court, on May 26, dismissed the petition filed by the CMRL against the probe and held that initiation of PMLA investigations is valid and doesn’t require a predicate offence to begin a probe.

ED’s investigation showed that the crime proceeds were generated by CMRL management, and Veena received money from CMRL without rendering any services; hence, the residence where she stayed with her father, Pinarayi Vijayan, was included in the raid.

Responding to the attack on the cars transporting its officials, the ED said that some people conspired in the attack, and it was not a spontaneous reaction. Three cars carrying the ED search team and CRPF personnel were vandalised by CPM workers as they returned from Pinarayi Vijayan's rented residence at Bakery junction, Thiruvananthapuram. One of the drivers suffered an eye injury during the attack.