Bineesh's close kin protest outside his residence as ED raid continues

Thiruvananthapuram : Close relatives of Bineesh Kodiyeri sat in protest outside his residence demanding to meet his family as Enforcement Directorate officials continued searches inside for the second day.

Relatives, including two women, wanted to be allowed inside and meet the family that has not stepped out since raid began on Wednesday morning.

Indoors are the wife of Bineesh, their three-year-old child and her parents.

Outside a woman, claiming to be the sister of Balakrishnan's wife, told the media their only request was one of them be allowed to meet the family.

"We are sending food to them and it is now beyond 24 hours since the raid began. We want to know if the food is being eaten by our relatives or is it being consumed by the ED team. We will not go from here until our request is met," said the sister of Balakrishnan's wife.

Top Kerala Police officials arrived at the spot and after talks with the ED officials, they came and told the protesting relatives that those inside the house said 'they do not wish to see anyone'.

The protesters said: "We do not believe what Kerala Police just conveyed. This is just a cooked up story. We know she (Bineesh's wife) will never say that. We want one of us to be sent inside the house."

The raid continued through the night and the house has been strictly manned by the CRPF and a few Karnataka police officials.

While the ED ended its raids at five other places connected with Bineesh Kodiyeri's business interests on Wednesday night, it continued its operation inside the house.

However, at the time of the raid, Balakrishnan was not present in the house.

The officials said the raids were a follow-up on the information that they got from Bineesh, who has been in their custody since October 29.

Bineesh was arrested under the charges of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He is in their custody till Saturday when he will be produced in the court at Bengaluru.

IANS report with edits