Kochi: Kerala Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter T Veena was grilled by the ED sleuths for over eight hours in connection with the Money Laundering case linked to the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) at Kochi on Wednesday.
Media reports said that she is likely to be summoned by the ED for further questioning.
She came to the ED office accompanied by her husband Mohamed Riyas, MLA, who left after she entered the agency office.
This is the first time she is appearing before the ED in connection with allegations of receiving Rs 2.78 crore from CMRL without providing any services to it by her now-defunct Exalogic IT company.
ED had summoned her on June 12 when she could not turn up citing health reasons.
The ED issued a fresh summons directing her to appear on June 17.
The agency had questioned CMRL managing director Sasidharan S. Kartha’s daughter Shiby S. Kartha, Saran S. Kartha, joint managing director of CMRL, and Jaya S Kartha, wife of Mr. Sasidharan Kartha.
The issue began in January 2019 when the Income Tax Department stumbled upon traces of some fictitious expenses worth Rs 130 crore during raids at CMRL.
The matter reached before the Income Tax Settlement Commission which found that CMRL gave bribes to different individuals.
This led to the starting of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) ending up in unearthing of fictitious cash expenses of Rs 182 crore for 15 years used by CMRL to pay bribes.
Finally the matter was taken cognizance by the ED which registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of a prosecution complaint filed by the SFIO before a court in Ernakulam in April 2025. During the course of the raids, the agency had frozen ₹18.36 crore in 242 accounts identified during the search operations held in the pay-off case.
ED grills Veena for over 8 hours
