CMRL payoffs case: Pinarayi Vijayan, daughter, son-in-law booked for corruption

Kerala’s Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Monday booked former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena, and son-in-law, Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) lawmaker PA Mohammed Riyas, under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

It registered two First Information Reports (FIRs) based on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) finding that Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) allegedly made monthly payments to Exalogic Solutions, the now-defunct firm of Veena, when Vijayan was the chief minister.

The Kerala high court on October 9 ordered the VACB to register an FIR and initiate an inquiry in the case on activist-lawyer KM Shajahan’s petition seeking directions to charge Vijayan and others under the PC Act based on the ED findings.

Officials familiar with the matter said the first FIR names Vijayan as the first accused. Riyas has been named as the first accused in the second case. One FIR relates to alleged bribes to Vijayan through his daughter and the other to money allegedly routed abroad through hawala channels. Veena is an accused in both cases.

A single-judge bench of the Kerala high court said the ED report contains sufficient information pointing to cognisable offences.

The case came into the limelight in June 2023 when the Income Tax (IT) Interim Settlement Board found that Veena and Exalogic, a software solutions firm in Bengaluru, received monthly ₹1.72 crore payments from CMRL between 2017 and 2019 despite having rendered no services. Exalogic and CMRL signed an agreement in 2017 for software and marketing services to the minerals manufacturer in exchange for compensation.

In January 2019, the IT department raided the CMRL premises and the residences of its managing director, Sasidharan Kartha, and its then chief financial officer, KS Suresh Kumar. The department subsequently flagged tax evasion through exaggerated expenses. It also found diary entries indicating payments made to prominent political leaders, media houses, trade union leaders, and police officers.

Congress, which returned to power in Kerala this year, and the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the monthly payments to Veena and her firm in the absence of any services were essentially bribes paid to Vijayan in exchange for favours to CMRL in the mining sector. Vijayan and the CPI(M) dismissed the allegations.

In January 2024, the Union corporate affairs ministry ordered an inquiry into the allegations under the Companies Act. In February that year, the Karnataka high court dismissed Veena’s plea seeking to quash the probe.

In March 2024, the ED registered a case against Veena and CMRL, taking cognisance of the complaint filed as part of the probe. The agency inquired whether the case involved violations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

In April 2025, a prosecution complaint was filed in a special court in Kochi, charging Veena and CMRL officials over alleged fraudulent payments of ₹2.70 crore benefiting Veena and Exalogic. CMRL officials were charged with alleged fraudulent payments of ₹182 crore under the guise of sluice handling charges and transportation costs.

The ED allegedly found handwritten notes containing names, amounts handled, and money transferred to Dubai.