ED raids Pinarayi Vijayan’s house in CMRL case: Protesters vandalise agency vehicles; ‘political vendetta’, says CPM

Members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) allegedly vandalised vehicles belonging to Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on Wednesday while protesting outside the residence of former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan amid an ongoing money laundering investigation.

The protest broke out after ED officials reached Vijayan’s residence as part of the probe, triggering tense scenes between CPM workers and agency personnel.

Meanwhile, Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday said that neither the state government nor the Home Ministry had prior information about the Enforcement Directorate’s raid at former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s residence earlier in the day.

Addressing reporters, Chennithala stated that the ED had not requested any assistance from the Kerala government for the operation and said the investigating agency itself should explain the details of the action.

"The Kerala government or the Home Ministry has no information about this raid. They did not seek our support either, so we do not know the details of the operation. This question needs to be posed to the ED," Chennithala said.

He further alleged the existence of an understanding between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala. Chennithala also reiterated that his party had consistently opposed both the BJP and the CPM.

"Everybody in Kerala knows there was an understanding between the BJP and the CPM. What happened to that understanding now? They have to tell the people of Kerala. We do not have any relationship with the BJP. We are fighting the BJP. We fought against both the BJP and the CPM, and we came to power," he added.

The Enforcement Directorate carried out searches at 10 locations across Kerala, including the residences of former Kerala Chief Minister and Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan, in connection with the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) case.

Officials said the raids began early on Wednesday and covered multiple premises based on specific inputs against those accused in the controversial CMRL financial transactions case, which had stirred Kerala politics during Vijayan’s tenure. The ED action came a day after the Kerala High Court on Tuesday declined to quash the agency’s investigation into the CMRL case.

On Tuesday, the CPM claimed that the Enforcement Directorate raid at Pinarayi Vijayan’s residence was “another instance” of central agencies being “misused” for political vendetta against opposition leaders.

In a strongly worded statement posted on X, the party accused the BJP-led Centre of deploying agencies such as the ED, CBI, and Income Tax Department to target political opponents and stifle dissent.

The CPM wrote on X: “The ED raid on the residence of former Keralam Chief Minister and CPI(M) PB Member Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan is yet another stark example of how central agencies are being weaponised for political vendetta. Leaders who consistently challenge the BJP-led Union government and refuse to submit to Sangh Parivar politics are being targeted through intimidation, media trials, and selective investigations. When political opponents cannot be defeated democratically, the BJP resorts to ED, CBI, and Income Tax raids to harass and silence dissent.”