Former Kerala CM Pinarayi’s daughter T. Veena seeks postponement of ED hearing in CMRL pay case
T. Veena, daughter of former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is unlikely to appear for questioning at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) zonal office in Kochi on Friday (June 12, 2026) in connection with the alleged money laundering case linked to the payment of Cochin Minerals and Rutil Limited (CMRL). She asked to postpone the performance due to health reasons.
ED may issue a new summons for a different date. Ms. Veena reportedly emailed the agency and expressed her willingness to appear at a later date and cooperate with the investigation by submitting relevant documents through her lawyer.
It was the first summons issued to her by the ED, which learned that she had a detailed questionnaire prepared.
On June 9, 2026, the central agency summoned Ms. Veena along with Sasidharan Kartha, Chairman and Managing Director of CMRL, and senior officials of the company as part of the investigation.
On May 27, 2026, the ED raided Mr. Vijayan’s Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram residences as part of an investigation into whether his daughter and former IT consultant Ms. Veena, now defunct Exalogic, received substantial monthly advances from CMRL, a private mining company, during 2000-2017.
The ED had earlier frozen ₹18.36 crore in 242 accounts identified during search operations conducted in the pay-off case. She claimed that the searches conducted as part of the investigation yielded several incriminating records, accounts, digital evidence, investments and fixed deposits in banks. Apart from Mr. Vijayan’s residences in Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram, the ED conducted searches at the residence of former minister and Ms. Veena’s husband PA Mohamed Riyas.
A special court for dealing with offenses under the Companies Act in Kochi on June 8 allowed the ED to obtain copies of documents collected by the SFIO in connection with the money laundering case related to the CMRL disbursement case.
Ernakulam Additional District and Sessions Judge Suresh Babu VPM allowed a petition filed by the ED seeking copies of documents collected by the SFIO, which was probing the alleged fictitious expenses submitted by CMRL to the Income Tax Settlement Commission. The agency reportedly sought 134 documents collected by the SFIO during its probe into the links between CMRL and Ms. Veena’s now-defunct firm.
Published – 11 Jun 2026 11:01 AM IST