New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: In a startling revelation, Kerala BJP President K. Surendran said Tuesday that the life of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s closest aide C.M. Ravindran is in danger and adequate security should be provided to him.
“Ravindran is the storehouse of secrets of all sorts of dealings that has taken place in the office of Vijayan, which is in excess of thousands of crores. Ravindran was to appear before the Enforcement Directorate ( ED) on Monday. But the news is that he has turned Covid positive, but that has to be probed,” said Surendran.
“Along with Ravindran, the other official who is privy to everything that has happened in Vijayan’s office is his political secretary, Dinesan Puthelathu. At the moment, Ravindran has to appear before the ED and his revelation could land Vijayan and the CPI-M in deep trouble. The media and the civil society should rise as both Vijayan and the CPI-M can go to any extent, and hence the life of Ravindran is in danger,” added Surendran.
Vijayan’s secretary and senior IAS officer M. Sivasankar was arrested on October 29 and since then he is in the custody of the ED, after it surfaced that he and Swapna Suresh – the prime accused in the gold smuggling case – were fast friends.
Various national probe agencies like the NIA, CBI, ED, Customs and Income Tax have by now unearthed incriminating evidences in the gold smuggling and Life Mission cases.
The arrest of Bineesh Kodiyeri by the ED on October 29 came as a double whammy for the CPI-M, as he is the son of CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan who has been apprehended under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and his links with the drug mafia is also being probed.
Overall, the position of both Vijayan and the CPI-M is precarious at the moment, as both the Congress and the BJP are up in arms demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, ever since the gold smuggling case surfaced in July.
IANS