CMRL pay case: Pinarayi’s son-in-law and CPI(M) leader Mohamed Riyas vows to ‘legally fight’ ED charges

PA Mohammed Riyas. File. | Photo credit: KK Najeeb

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) Keralam state secretariat member and PA Mohamed Riyas MLA from Beypore has vowed to “legally fight” the latest allegations leveled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

In a Facebook post on Thursday (September 10, 2026) morning, he said: “Today’s media reports contain fresh, absurd claims related to the ED investigation. If the ED leaked report does indeed contain such allegations, it is a fabricated story deliberately concocted to assassinate my character. The leaked reports claim that I have confessed to these matters; it is an open matter before the ED.”

The former public works minister said some people “get pleasure from devouring the raw flesh of living human beings through such absurd information leaked under the guise of an ED investigation”.

The post comes in the backdrop of a media report which claimed, citing a recent letter written by the ED to the State Superintendent of Police (SPC), that Mr Riyas had “illegally” amassed ₹20.5 crore and “diverted” some of that wealth to Dubai to “set up a business unit” there. This “reveal” is said to be part of the agency’s September 7 detailed report to the SPC seeking registration of a separate FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other relevant laws against Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter and Mr. Riyas’s wife, T. Veena, in the Exalogic-Cochin Minerals and Rutil Ltd payment case.

The controversy assumes significance as the CPI(M) is scheduled to hold an extended three-day state committee meeting in Kozhikode from September 13 to discuss rigging the Left Democratic Font in the 2026 assembly elections. Mr. Riyas is the chairman of the event’s organizing committee.

While Mr. Vijayan termed the ED’s request as a “disgraceful subversion of the criminal justice system for political motives”, the United Democratic Front-led state government has decided to examine its legal aspects.

Published – 10 Sep 2026 09:51 IST