Thiruvananthapuram, 03 June (H.S.) :

The Kerala government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials who were allegedly assaulted by CPI(M) workers after conducting searches linked to the CMRL–Exalogic Solutions “monthly payoff” case.

The investigation will be supervised by the Cantonment Assistant Commissioner, while Museum House Officer R. Prashanth has been appointed as the investigating officer. The SIT comprises around 30 personnel, including five inspectors and seven sub-inspectors.

The decision to transfer the probe from the local police to a special team comes amid growing demands for a more comprehensive investigation, given that the case involves an attack on officials of a central agency. The Museum Police had initially been handling the investigation. Sources indicated that the ED had also submitted a report to its higher authorities seeking a dedicated probe into the incident.

The attack occurred after an ED team carried out searches at the residence of Veena T., as part of the ongoing investigation into the alleged financial transactions between Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) and Exalogic Solutions. The agency had also conducted searches at the Bakery Junction residence of former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with the case.

As the ED officials were leaving the premises after the searches, a crowd of around 300 CPI(M) workers allegedly blocked and attacked the convoy. Several vehicles were damaged and some officials reportedly sustained injuries.

The case has already led to the arrest of 25 CPI(M) workers. Earlier, a Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Thiruvananthapuram denied bail to the first five accused, describing the incident as a “rare case.” The court observed that the attack had been widely witnessed through media coverage and rejected arguments that no public property had been damaged. It also noted that the assault appeared to have been unprovoked.

The first five accused arrested in the case are Sreejith, Jithin Raj, Manoj, Jeevan and Shahin. During the bail hearing, the defence argued that the ED officials were not on active duty at the time of the incident and that the vehicles involved were not official ED vehicles. The court, however, rejected these contentions and refused to grant bail.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman