Bengaluru Court Remanded Bineesh Kodiyeri To 4 Days ED Custody In Drug Case

Mohammed Anoop - was recently arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Bengaluru, after he was found in possession of 60 grams of MDMA tablets (a psychotropic substance) in his residence. Later he was arrested by ED.

The remand report states that Mohammed Anoop was made a 'benamidar' for one of Bineesh's restaurants.He has also accepted that "Mr Bineesh is his boos and he did whatever Mr Binesh Kodiyeri told him to do for which Mr Bineesh used to pay him."

The department has claimed that Binesh has admitted in his statement dated October 6, that he has paid huge amounts of money to Mohammed Anop. However,he has not disclosed the complete information w.r.t the financial transactions and the proceeds of crime involved in money laundering. During the investigation it is revealed that he holds/possesses many bank accounts and has committed the offence of money laundering by transferring/layering huge proceeds of crime into various accounts which needs to be unearthed."

It is also stated that Investigation under PMLA further revealed that the application department is having sufficient material with reasons to believe that the said accused is guilty of the offence of money laundering under section 3 of the Act and punishable under section 4 of the Act.

The remand claimed that Bineesh is not cooperating in the investigation and not divulging the details of the entire laundered money while deposing the statement under section 50 (3) in respondent to the summons issued under section 50 (2) of PMLA.

The remand report submits that to safeguard the entire proceeds of crime involved in money laundering which is in the possession and his associates ED has arrested Binesh on October 29.

The department prayed for 15 days custody of the accused for interrogation. It cited that the accused wields considerable influence "on the perpetrators of the money laundering offence and if not remanded to Enforcement Directorate custody will continue to indulge in the said offence and this would severely scuttle the investigation and destroy the evidence.

Further, it is said that Bineesh's custody would enable them "to pursue the ongoing investigations unhampered, under the PMLA. The custody would enable the department to unearth the diversion and the end use of the proceeds of the crime.

The court has granted ED custody of Bineesh till November 2.

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