Fraud Briefing

The Enforcement Directorate conducted fresh searches at 8 Kozhikode premises in the ongoing CMRL (Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited) PMLA case, uncovering a money trail linked to Veena, daughter of former Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, whose company Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd received fraudulent payments of Rs 2.78 crore from CMRL under the guise of IT consultancy. ED had previously frozen Rs 18.36 crore across 242 accounts.

West Bengal-based operatives procured 4,500 SIM cards and connected roughly 10,000 devices (laptops and mobiles) to sell OTP infrastructure, at Rs 100 per OTP with roughly 21,000 OTPs supplied, to call centers in Islamabad operating under Chinese malware. Victims were sent phishing links that enabled illegal money transfers, and the gang migrated from Telegram to WhatsApp groups to evade detection. 251 complaints have been registered across 26 states.

CMRL is a publicly listed company with 13.41% shareholding by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, a state PSU. SFIO identified fictitious expenses of Rs 182 crore over 15 years and bribery payments, and Rs 18.36 crore is frozen across 242 accounts. PMLA investigations are ongoing following the SFIO Prosecution Complaint filed April 2025, and the Kerala High Court dismissed CMRL's writ petition in May 2026, allowing ED proceedings to continue.