Kerala Opposition leader claims CM behind ED probe against him

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan claimed on Saturday the Enforcement Department’s (ED) probe has been initiated against him because of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

While asserting that he will cooperate with the ED, Satheesan said that Vijayan “fears that shortly he will come under the ED’s scanner and to make it ‘even-stevens’, the Chief Minister ordered a probe against me by state Vigilance into a case that had been already cleared by the Kerala High Court”.

The Congress leader is under the state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau’s scanner allegedly for collecting money from abroad soon after the 2018 floods to build homes for the poor in his constituency.

“All knows that the Vigilance cannot probe this case as it involves remittances from abroad and it’s the ED which is the agency that has to do it and knowing that very well, Vijayan initiated the probe, so that the ED will automatically make an entry. I have no issue as I know, there is nothing (true) in the allegation and in the past, this (allegation) has been cleared,” Satheesan said.

He however said that “if the ED probe will take a wrong direction, then I will deal with it appropriately”.