The attack on Enforcement Directorate agents has been sharply denounced by Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan. The event happened while Pinarayi Vijayan, the former chief minister of Kerala, was being searched at his rented home.
Attacking investigators and causing damage to their cars is a major offence, according to Satheesan. He underlined that the state government merely steps in to maintain law and order.
Satheesan on Friday stated that the attack on ED personnel following a search at Pinarayi Vijayan's rented property here was a severe violation. "It is a major crime to attack investigators and cause damage to their vehicles; this should not happen again. That's our stance," the CM declared.
According to the chief minister, "we take strong action in such cases", and the state government and police only step in when there is a problem with law and order.
Satheesan defended the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) search by stating that it was part of an ongoing investigation and was conducted in relation to a case that had previously been filed by a central agency.
According to him, the search was done as part of an investigation.
"What part does the state government play in this? Absolutely no role. The searches were not even reported to the state government," Satheesan added, "The state police were also not notified."
He claimed that claims of financial transactions with a mining company, CMRL, had also been brought up by the Congress-led UDF and were included in the ED investigation.
He added that since the central agency investigation was four years old and nothing had been done either before or after the LDF government took office, the UDF had reservations about the inquiry itself.
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Financial transactions between a sand mining company and Vijayan's daughter's business were connected to the ED searches.
As part of its probe into the CMRL money laundering case involving his daughter Veena T, the ED raided 10 locations in Kerala on Wednesday, including Vijayan's permanent home in Kannur and his rented apartment in Thiruvananthapuram.
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