Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan
| Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat
The Keralam government will take an appropriate decision after legal scrutiny of the allegations raised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its detailed report to the State Police Chief seeking registration of separate first information report (FIR) against former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former Public Works Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas, and T. Veena, Mr. Vijayan’s daughter and Mr. Riyas’s spouse, in the Exalogic-Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) pay-off case, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has said.
Addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday (September 9, 2026) , Mr. Satheesan said that “major” allegations have been raised in the letter seeking registration of FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
“We will go through legal scrunity and an appropriate decision will be taken. Major allegations are there, but I am not revealing the details of the letter considering the impropreity,” said Mr. Satheesan.
Regarding Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan’s allegation that the ED’s letter seeking the registration of a corruption case was now before Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, whose name along with that of Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty figures in the CMRL’s diary of donations, Mr. Satheesan said that all political parties accept donations from companies, but “this specific case is different.”
On alleged divergence in stance
When asked whether the State government’s stand diverged from the Congress party’s position, which the party alleges are being weaponised mostly against Opposition parties, Mr. Satheesan said Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had cooperated with the investigation and submitted themselves to hours of questioning when the ED launched an investigation against them. “Congress party workers did not attack the ED’s vehicles,” he said, referring to the incident in which the vehicle of ED officials was attacked after a raid at Mr. Vijayan’s former rented residence in Thiruvananthapuram in May.
The ED’s report, which was sent on September 7, 2026 reportedly stated that the evidence recovered by the Central agency in the case under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) warranted registration of a case.
The CPI(M) has been on a collision course with the ED, accusing the agency of carrying out a political hit job targeting Mr. Vijayan and his family on behalf of the Union government.
Published – September 09, 2026 01:30 pm IST
