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ED raids against Pinarayi Vijayan: ED raids the residence of former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The Marxist Communist Party targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress regarding this raid. Marxist Communist Party general secretary MA Baby on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government and the Congress over the Enforcement Directorate raids in the CMRL-Exalogic case involving former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

MA Baby termed this action of ED as a grave crime against Pinarayi Vijayan. He alleged that the Central Government is politically targeting the Marxist Communist Party and its biggest leader in Kerala by using investigative agencies. Baby also claims that V.D. Two members of the Satheesan-led cabinet had also received money from CMRL.

He said, ”The basis of this raid is being said to be the order of the Kerala High Court, in which the Enforcement Directorate was allowed to continue the investigation, but Veena Vijayan has been cooperating in the investigation every time and has appeared before the authorities when called.”

Raid on Vijayan’s residence at 6 am

The Enforcement Directorate began simultaneous raids at 6 am on Wednesday at Vijayan’s residences in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur, former minister PA Mohammed Riyas’ house in Kozhikode, premises linked to Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited and other locations.

Mohammad Riyas is the husband of Veena Vijayan and is also a Marxist Communist Party MLA from Beypore. The case pertains to allegations that Veena Vijayan’s information technology company Exalogic received payments from CMRL for services that were allegedly not provided.

However, Baby declined to comment much on the legal side of the matter. He said, ”I don’t want to go into the merits of the CMRL case. The company has already made its position clear.” Referring to the Emergency, he said that Pinarayi Vijayan had faced political harassment earlier also.

Alleged collusion between Congress and BJP

Baby said, ‘Pinarai Vijayan was harassed even during the Emergency. Now the Modi government is repeating the same.” He also accused Congress of targeting Vijayan in collaboration with Bharatiya Janata Party. After the action of the Enforcement Directorate, Marxist Communist Party workers became angry and protests started in Kannur and Kozhikode. The workers raised slogans against the central government and the Enforcement Directorate.

Senior party leaders also held an emergency meeting. There are indications that protests may spread across Kerala throughout the day. Meanwhile, the security of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shaun George has been increased. He played an important role in taking the Veena Vijayan case forward for investigation.

(with agency input)