Kerala’s political cauldron on boil as ED’s credibility faces scrutiny amid SC rap

The dust may have momentarily settled, but Kerala’s high-stakes vigilance case against a senior Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer is far from over. Assistant Director Shekhar Kumar stands accused of demanding a ₹2 crore bribe from a Kollam-based businessman — a charge that has pierced the aura of invincibility surrounding the central agency.

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While the ED has dismissed the allegations as baseless, the state’s Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau claims to have gathered evidence, signalling that this is merely the lull before another storm.

It all started with a complaint registered by Aneesh Babu, a cashew exporter from Kollam, who alleged that officers linked to the ED demanded a bribe of ₹2 crore to let him off the hook in an ongoing money laundering investigation. His complaint, now the basis of a formal Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau case, has snowballed into a rare instance of a central probe agency facing legal scrutiny in a state.

Face-off with ED

According to Aneesh, the demand was routed through intermediaries — Wilson Varghese, Mukesh Kumar, and Ranjith Warrier, a chartered accountant. Wilson was caught red-handed accepting ₹2 lakh in marked notes. Mukesh is believed to have facilitated hawala transactions, while Warrier allegedly maintained a list of individuals under ED radar, raising suspicion of a broader extortion network operating from within or around the Kochi ED office.

Aneesh Babu, the complainant in the bribery case, accused ED Deputy Director Vinod Kumar of severe mental harassment. He alleged that Vinod Kumar summoned him to his cabin, used abusive language, and forced him to sit on the floor. Initially, Aneesh had blamed another official, P Radhakrishnan, but later clarified that only Vinod had directly threatened him.

The ED has dismissed the complaint as an attempt to stall the investigation, citing Aneesh’s repeated failure to appear in response to summons issued since 2021. But the Vigilance probe, armed with documentary evidence including a diary with sensitive details, suggests otherwise.

Political vendetta?

The case has sent political shockwaves through Kerala, reinforcing the state government’s long-standing accusation that the ED is being used as a tool for political vendetta. The Left-led administration has frequently pointed to the ED’s aggressive pursuit of high-profile cases — from the gold smuggling scandal and the Karuvannur cooperative bank scam to the probe into the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) — many of which have drawn scrutiny towards the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and former ministers. The latest revelations have only intensified concerns over the sweeping, often opaque powers of central agencies, and the alleged use of intimidation and extortion disguised as investigation.

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At stake now is not just the credibility of one agency but the integrity of the federal structure and the rule of law itself. For the first time in recent memory, a state vigilance agency is investigating the investigators — forcing the country to confront uncomfortable questions about power, accountability, and the spaces where the two collapse.

This saga, intertwined with former Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac’s legal challenge against ED summons in the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board case and the state’s formation of a judicial commission to probe central agencies’ alleged excesses since 2020, threatens to undermine the ED’s high-profile investigations.

ED defends officials

The ED, however, countered swiftly issuing a statement defending its officials, asserting that Kumar’s case was under internal review and that allegations of misconduct were “unsubstantiated until proven.” This defence has done little to quell the storm, as Kerala’s political parties seize the opportunity to question the agency’s integrity.

“With the Vigilance registering a case against an ED assistant director in a bribery case, it has now become evident that what the Left has been saying about the ED is true. It was just the other day that a Vigilance case was filed against ED Assistant Director Shekhar Kumar, who had led the move to freeze the CPI(M) Thrissur district committee’s account, for being corrupt. The account, in which party members had deposited collected funds, was illegally frozen by the ED due to political bias. The BJP government is using central agencies to target its opponents,” said A Vijayaraghavan, politburo member of CPI(M)

Congress leader VD Satheesan took his criticism a step further, alleging a “CPM-BJP nexus” that shields LDF leaders, deepening public distrust. “A majority of ED officers are corrupt and act according to the directives of the Union government and BJP leadership. It’s now evident that there is an understanding between the CPI(M) and the BJP, with both sides making compromises to dilute cases against themselves,” he said.

At loggerheads

Kerala CPI(M) has been at daggers drawn with the ED for the last five years ever since the gold smuggling case of 2020 surfaced. Subsequently former finance minister TM Thomas Isaac, in August 2022, moved the Kerala High Court challenging ED summons in the KIIFB case, becoming a symbol of resistance. The ED had probed KIIFB’s issuance of ₹2,150 crore in masala bonds in 2019, alleging FEMA violations. Isaac, then KIIFB’s vice-chairman, filed a writ petition in the Kerala High Court, arguing that the summons infringed on his privacy and lacked specificity. In October 2022, the court granted interim relief, questioning the ED’s demand for Isaac’s personal financial details and affirming his right to privacy. Isaac’s public stance was defiant.

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“It was most likely Thomas Isaac and KIIFB who first directly confronted the ED’s political witch-hunt. In the case of KIIFB, they demanded thousands of pages of accounts to be repeatedly signed and submitted. They insulted the female officer who appeared with them — even poured tea on her. The CPI(M), Isaac, and KIIFB were being targeted at the behest of political bosses,” said Gopakumar Mukundan, a left-leaning commentator and former finance department official.

“Now, look closely at the pattern of corruption stories that are emerging. The summons is being used as a precursor to corruption charges. Summons are sent without clear reasons. People are asked to submit irrelevant and unreasonable documents. Subsequently, they are threatened and bribes are extorted. There are middlemen for this. Frequent visitors to the ED’s Kochi office and their local connections must be playing a role,” added M Gopakumar

‘Credible evidence’

The ED, in its defence, maintained that its KIIFB probe was based on “credible evidence” of financial irregularities and denied political motivations, though it has faced judicial scepticism, with the court in December 2023 demanding “verifiable reasons” for the investigation.

The Kerala government’s response has escalated the confrontation. In 2021, the LDF government formed a judicial commission to investigate alleged excesses by central agencies, including the ED, since 2020. The commission is tasked with examining cases which CPI(M) calls politically motivated. The tenure of the VK Mohan Commission has been extended for another six months last week. This unprecedented move had drawn mixed reactions. Supporters view it as a bold stand against the overreach of the Union government, while critics, including some BJP leaders, argue it’s a tactic to shield LDF leaders from scrutiny.

The timing of the recent scandal is crucial, unfolding alongside the ED’s ongoing investigations into high-profile cases such as the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam, which carry substantial political weight. Notably, the agency is also scrutinising allegations of financial irregularities involving Veena T, the Chief Minister’s daughter which the ruling CPI(M) dismisses as political witch-hunting.

Double-edged sword

Politically, the scandal is a double-edged sword. The LDF is leveraging it to rally voters against perceived central interference, with Vijayan and Isaac framing the ED as an arm of the BJP’s vendetta.

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The UDF, while critical of the LDF, sees an opportunity to highlight the ED’s alleged bias, with Satheesan accusing the agency of selective enforcement. Interestingly, the officer in question, Shekhar Kumar, was the lead investigator who earlier this year filed a report giving a clean chit to the BJP and its leaders in the controversial Kodakara hawala case. Despite facing mounting criticism over the case, the BJP has largely remained silent and refrained from publicly backing the ED officials involved. This restraint suggests a strategic distance, possibly to avoid further political fallout amid growing scrutiny.

“We don’t believe all ED officers are saints,” said K Surendran, former state president of the BJP. “In fact, many officials in the ED and Customs are pro-leftist comrades.”

For now, Kerala’s political cauldron continues to simmer, with the ED at its centre. The 2026 elections loom large, and the outcome of this saga—whether it strengthens state resistance or prompts central reforms—will shape voter perceptions and Kerala’s political future.