High drama broke out on Wednesday morning after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at several premises in Kerala, including former CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s residences in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur in connection with the Cochin minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) case.Violence broke out outside Vijayan’s residence in Thiruvananthapuram after ED officials had completed the raid and were leaving the premises.Several CPM workers gathered outside his home and protested against the raid. The situation escalated as some protesters blocked the vehicle carrying ED officials, including women officials, and threw stones at it. The windshield of the vehicle was broken in the incident.Later, the ED lodged an FIR with the Trivandrum Police for legal action against the attackers.ED sources said that the crowd attacked the ED team cars with bricks and iron rods without any provocation.“This shows that some people conspired for the attack and it was not a spontaneous reaction. The three cars, in which ED search team and the CRPF personnel were travelling were attacked and vandalised. One of the drivers of the car suffered eye injury during the attack. The ED followed due process and did not resist the crowd, nor the CRPF personnel used any aggression on the crowd,” the ED said in a statement.The agency further said that during the raids, several incriminating records and accounts, digital evidences, investments, bank FDs were found. Besides, the ED has frozen about Rs 18.36 crore in around 242 accounts identified during the search operations. The evidences recovered are being analysed.Meanwhile, the CPM strongly condemned the ED action, accusing the BJP-led Central Government of using investigative agencies for political vendetta against opposition parties.In a statement posted on X, the party alleged that agencies such as the ED, CBI and the Income Tax Department are being misused to intimidate political opponents and suppress dissent.Meanwhile, in the national capital, CPM leaders were detained during a protest led by party general secretary MA Baby outside the ED headquarters against searches were conducted at Vijayan’s residence.The CPM alleged that the police used force against protesters and detained several senior leaders during the demonstration at the ED office. In a post on X, the party said a peaceful protest, led by Baby against what it described as a “targetted attack” on Vijayan, was stopped by the Delhi Police.Vijayan himself later took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying that the development must have given “great satisfaction” to him. He also accused the BJP-led Centre of targeting Opposition leaders through the Enforcement Directorate (ED).Talking to the media, the Kerala Leader of Opposition claimed the Congress was supporting ED action against the Opposition parties. “For a long time, the ED has wanted to conduct a search at my house. I feel that this search would give great satisfaction to certain people, especially to someone like Rahul Gandhi,” Vijayan said.AAP national convener and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also criticised the Centre over the ED action. In a post on X, he said the raid was “yet another blatant misuse of central agencies by the BJP to target regional opposition parties and undermine democracy”.“The ED’s immediate raid after the Congress started complaining about ‘inaction’, raises questions on the BJP-Congress relationship,” he added.About the caseThe Wednesday raids were conducted in connection with a case pertaining to alleged diversion of funds from the CMRL to various individuals under the guise of expenses, which are reportedly fake. Vijayan’s daughter T Veena, whose residence was also raided, is alleged to be one of the beneficiaries, ED sources said.According to the anti-money laundering agency, CMRL, which is a private entity, reportedly made an illegal payment of Rs 1.72 crore to Vijayan’s daughter T Veena’s company Exalogic Solutions between 2018 and 2019, even though the firm had not provided any service to the company.The transactions came under the radar after findings by the Interim Board for Settlement of the Income Tax Department questioned their legitimacy as business expenditure.Following those findings, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had ordered a Serious Fraud Investigation Office probe in January 2024.In 2024 itself, the ED had registered a case and issued summons to CMRL officials in April of that year, prompting the company to move court against the agency’s action.The ED action comes a day after the Kerala High Court dismissed petitions filed by CMRL and its officials seeking to quash the agency’s proceedings in the case. The court declined to stay the investigation, allowing the ED to continue its probe into the alleged financial transactions.According to reports, the ED is examining whether the transactions constituted illegal gratification and whether the funds were routed in violation of anti-money laundering laws. Investigators are also probing the nature of agreements between the private mining firm and Exalogic Solutions.