CMRL pay-off case: official retracts statement to ED

A former official of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), whose statement had formed the basis for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recommending the State Police Chief of Kerala to register a First Information Report (FIR) against former Chief Minister and current Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan in the Exalogic–CMRL pay-off case, has submitted a retraction statement to the ED, it has emerged.

The ED had sent a detailed report to the State Police Chief seeking registration of a separate FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other relevant laws against Mr. Vijayan, former Public Works Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas, and T. Veena, Mr. Vijayan’s daughter and Mr. Riyas’s spouse on September 7, 2026. The report accused Mr. Vijayan of receiving a bribe of ₹3.28 crore through his daughter, based on the alleged admission of CMRL’s former Chief Financial Officer and Chief General Manager P. Suresh Kumar.

It has now come to light that Mr. Kumar submitted a retraction statement to the ED Directorate in Delhi, alleging “illegal and high-handed conduct of the officers of the Kochi office of the Enforcement Directorate.” The Kochi office had issued him a summons on April 16, 2024. “I had submitted statements/clarifications on various questions raised by them relating to our company during interrogation at the ED office. I felt intimidated and pressurised during the recording of my statements,” Mr. Kumar, who has since resigned from CMRL, said in a mail to the company dated May 15, 2024, the same day he submitted the retraction statement to the ED.

At a press conference held on September 11, 2026, following the ED’s report to the State Police Chief, CPI(M) Kerala State Secretariat member Mr. Riyas alleged that the investigative agency was intimidating individuals into issuing statements against him, Ms. Veena, and Mr. Vijayan. He further claimed that such statements were then being circulated to the media as official press releases. In its report, the ED had accused Mr. Riyas of “receipt of bribes and transfer of such bribe funds to Dubai through Veena and known associates.” Ms. Veena allegedly “assisted Mr. Vijayan and Mr. Riyas in collecting and routing bribe funds.”

Incidentally, K.S. Suresh Kumar, the current Chief General Manager of CMRL, also submitted a similarly worded retraction statement to the ED and mailed CMRL about the same on May 15, 2024. The ED Kochi office had issued him a summons on April 8, 2024.