The son of the state secretary of the ruling CPM in Kerala has said he knew well one of the suspects arrested in a Bangalore drug bust.

The confirmation by Bineesh Kodiyeri, the son of CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, came after a leader of the youth wing of the Opposition Indian Union Muslim League made the disclosure at a media conference in Kozhikode in north Kerala.

P.K. Firoz, the general secretary of the youth wing of the League, told the media conference on Wednesday that Bineesh had connections with Mohammed Anoop who was arrested in Bangalore.

The Narcotics Control Bureau had on August 21 raided two premises in Bangalore and seized large quantities of party drugs. They arrested suspected kingpin Anikha D, Anoop and drug peddler Rijesh Ravindran.

Firoz claimed that Bineesh had “close connections” with both Anoop and Ravindran.

“Bineesh had invested in Anoop’s restaurant in 2015. He had extended his best wishes through Facebook when Anoop started another restaurant in 2019,” Firoz said while waving a few sheets of paper that were purportedly Anoop’s statement to the NCB.

In the purported statement, Anoop was quoted as saying that he opened a restaurant in Kammanahalli in Bangalore “with the financial help” of Bineesh.

Later in the day, Bineesh said he knew Anoop for several years but didn’t know Ravindran. “I know him (Anoop) well and I had given some money for his restaurant. But the news that has come about Anoop is quite shocking since he is not that kind of a man, according to my understanding,” Bineesh said.

Bineesh said he had given “about Rs 3 lakh each twice” to Anoop to start the restaurant and often gave a few thousands of rupees when Anoop had financial problems.

“Would I have given any money to him had I known he was selling drugs? I got to know that he was in this kind of activities only when he was arrested,” Bineesh said.

“I first met Anoop when he was in a T-shirt business. He later moved to restaurant business. At that stage, many, including me, had helped him with money,” Bineesh said.

He said Anoop used to book rooms for him whenever he visited Bangalore. “His restaurant didn’t do well and it crashed. The Anoop I know is a man who is in debt.”

Bineesh accused Firoz of trying to “deflect attention from the killings of two DYFI activists by Congress workers on the eve of Onam (on Sunday)”.

Firoz cited some phone records to allege that Bineesh was in Bangalore on July 10 when gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh was nabbed from a hotel.

“My information is that powerful people, including film actors, have been at rave parties in Kerala where drugs are consumed,” said Firoz.

Bineesh rubbished the allegations and said he was not in Bangalore when Swapna was caught.

“I was not in Bangalore on that day,” said the CPM state secretary’s son who has dabbled in acting and maintained close ties with film professionals.

The gold-smuggling case had put the Left government under pressure after it was revealed that the now-suspended secretary of the chief minister’s office, M. Sivasankar, maintained close links with Swapna and the other accused.

While the allegations made by Firoz has opened a new front for the Left government to deal with, it will also give Kodiyeri Balakrishnan a new headache about his son.

His eldest son Binoy was accused by a Mumbai-based bar dancer of fathering her child out of wedlock. A DNA test result has not been made public yet.