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.

A day after the Kerala High Court granted permission to probe the alleged financial transactions between Exalogic Solutions, a firm owned by former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter T. Veena, and Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) in the alleged pay-off case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a series of simultaneous raids across the State and beyond on Wednesday (May 27, 2026) morning.

The raids by officials from the Kochi zonal office of the ED commenced around 7 a.m. The agency obtained the High Court order dismissing CMRL’s plea to quash the case on Tuesday around 8 p.m. and hastily planned the raids thereafter.

In Ernakulam, searches are being conducted at the corporate office of CMRL in Aluva, the residence of its managing director Sasidharan Kartha, also in Aluva, and the office of a sister concern of CMRL. Raids are reportedly underway at the residences of company officials handling finance and at two locations in Bengaluru linked to Exalogic Solutions.

Searches are also being carried out at Mr. Vijayan’s rented house at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram, his ancestral home in Kannur, and the residence of former Minister and Ms. Veena’s husband P.A. Mohamed Riyas. The ED officials, however, remain tight-lipped about the operations.

While dismissing CMRL’s plea, the court directed the firm’s officials to appear before the ED and cooperate with the investigation into alleged irregularities in the financial transactions.

Earlier, on February 5, 2024, a team of officials from the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs conducted an inspection at the CMRL office as part of its probe. The SFIO had constituted a six-member team after the Union government ordered an investigation under Section 212 (1) (a) & (c) of the Companies Act into the affairs of Exalogic Solutions Pvt. Ltd., CMRL, and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) Ltd., a State government entity holding a 13.4% stake in CMRL.

The controversy erupted after the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board released a report in August 2023 stating that Ms. Veena and her company had received ₹1.72 crore over three years as monthly payments from CMRL despite no evidence of services rendered. The report further noted that the payments were made owing to her relationship with a prominent person. Documents seized by the Income Tax department allegedly included details of payments made to politicians, temples, government servants, and media houses. It was also alleged that CMRL had disbursed around ₹135 crore to political leaders and government officials since 2016.

The case triggered a major political controversy in the State, with the then Opposition UDF using it to target Mr. Vijayan and his government.