Why Was Pinarayi Vijayan’s House Raided By ED? Former Kerala CM Faces Heat In Money Laundering Case Days After Losing Assembly Elections

ED Raids At Pinarayi’s House: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches at Pinarayi Vijayan’s house in Thiruvananthapuram in a money laundering case in relation to him being the previous Chief Minister of Kerala. The probe agency conducted searches in 12 states throughout the state, including Vijayan’s rental home in the state capital, according to terms of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The raids came after the Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by the CMRL seeking to quash the ED proceedings in the case.

Why did ED raid at Pinarayi’s House? 

The ED had initiated a PMLA case in 2024 to look into the allegations. The matter had been one of the most sensitive ones which the Vijayan government had to contend with politically.

The case is also being investigated by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, with the exception of the ED probe. Five officers of Vijayan and his gunmen were suspended on Tuesday, and the state government is considering punitive action against top cop MR Ajith Kumar for allegedly trying to stifle the investigation.

Money Laundering Row 

This all started when the Special Investigation Team, set up right after VD Satheesan became Chief Minister, revealed that police officers used force and weapons illegally. They targeted Youth Congress and KSU protesters during demonstrations against Vijayan’s Nava Kerala Yatra in Alappuzha back in December 2023.

Vijayan, who served twice as chief minister, lost the top job after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) was wiped out in the latest Assembly elections. Now, LDF has just 35 seats out of 140. The Congress-led UDF, meanwhile, won big with 102 seats and is about to take over the government.

What is the CMRL case all about? 

People first heard about the CMRL case in August 2023. Reports said Exalogic pocketed Rs 1.72 crore from CMRL between 2017 and 2020, even though they didn’t actually provide any services. After the news broke, the Centre had the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) dive deeper. Then, in April 2025, the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs gave the green light for prosecution proceedings against T Veena, citing those suspicious payments.

How is the daughter of Pinarayi Vijayan involved? 

Even though Vijayan himself is not accused directly, the matter has come under the spotlight because of the suspicion that CMRL made suspicious payments to Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd, a computer company that was allegedly related to his daughter Veena Thaikkandiyil, according to PTI.

In the years 2018 to 2019, a private firm called Cochin Minerals And Rutile Ltd (CMRL) allegedly paid an illegal sum of Rs 1.72 crore to Vijayan’s daughter T Veena’s firm Exalogic Solutions, for which it says it didn’t seek any services from the IT company. 

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