The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday (May 27, 2026) raided the houses of former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram in what is viewed as a major escalation of a long-running inquiry into whether his daughter and former IT consultant, T. Veena’s now-defunct firm, Exalogic, had received sizeable monthly retainers from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), a private mining company, during the 2017-2021 period allegedly without rendering any tangible service.

The ED searches unfolded at 12 locations across Kerala, including the residence of the former Tourism Minister and Ms. Veena’s husband, P.A. Mohamed Riyas, in Kozhikode, and the houses of the mining company’s promoters, among other localities. 

ED officials, accompanied by armed Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, were seen entering the search localities early Wednesday. They cordoned off the premises, including Mr. Vijayan’s recently rented house at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram. Mr. Vijayan and his family were at home when the raid unfolded. 

Raids hours after HC nod

The ED’s early-morning sweep came hours after the Kerala High Court on Tuesday gave the national anti-money laundering agency the go-ahead to investigate the alleged political pay-off case. Notably, the State-owned Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has a 14% stake in CMRL, which had hired Ms. Veena on a retainer fee as an IT consultant.

The High Court had also dismissed the CMRL’s plea to quash the case and directed the firm’s officials to appear before the ED. Notably, the ED had submitted before the High Court that its investigation into the suspected money laundering case was independent of an earlier inquiry conducted by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). 

Mr. Vijayan and Ms. Veena had repeatedly maintained that Exalogic’s contract with CMRL was above board, that both firms had transacted transparently through bank accounts, and that the IT firm had paid its income taxes and submitted the requisite documents to various regulatory authorities.

The SFIO interviewed Ms. Veena at its New Delhi office in 2025. However, Mr. Vijayan’s office had maintained that the recording of Ms. Veena’s statement was procedural and not inculpatory. 

The CMRL-Exalogic controversy, which caught the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in its vortex during the 2021 Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, remained on the back burner during the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections, which saw the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government return to power with a historic mandate after a hiatus of 10 years. 

The politically fraught SFIO and later ED inquiries have their provenance in a 2023 finding of the Interim Board for Settlement (IBS) under the Central Board of Taxes. 

The IBS had blown the whistle when the CMRL moved the quasi-judicial forum to claim input tax credits for payments made to various persons across the political aisle and entities, including Exalogic Solutions Limited. The IBS raised suspicions that the payments, allegedly confined largely to account-book scribblings, were under-the-table backhanders for political favours, prompting SFIO and ED inquiries.