Thiruvananthapuram: CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's elder son Binoy Vinodini Balakrishnan has been trapped in the UAE. A Dubai court on Feb 1 issued a travel ban on him on a cheating complaint of a tourism company and asked him to deposit his passport with it. He will be permitted to travel outside Dubai only after depositing AED 1 million (nearly Rs 1.74 crore) and legally settling the case.
It said, “We order to ban the debtor from travel and deposit his passport in the court's safe with publicising this resolution to all access points the matter shall be repealed in case of; 1. Depositing the amount (1,000,000 dirhams) ....” Speaking to a regional TV channel from Dubai, Binoy confirmed that ban following a civil case. “I was neither detained at the airport, nor my passport was seized. I didn’t go to the airport at all,” he said while denying reports that he was prevented from leaving the airport.
He also spoke to CPM's People TV and produced his passport before the crew to show that it was in his possession. He said there was deliberate attempt to politicise a cheque case to create controversy and target his father. The development has come as a major embarrassment for the CPM secretary who had earlier maintained that there was no case against his son in Dubai. He had also taken a dig at Dubai company head asking why was the "Arabi" moving around in India and why was he not initiating legal proceedings against his son who was in Dubai.
Binoy had gone to Dubai recently to prove that he was free to travel to that country. However, with the court now issuing travel ban against him, he will have to stay put there till the required money is deposited and the case disposed of. He would have to reveal the source of money if he were to deposit a big amount to the tune of Rs 1.74 crore. Earlier his younger brother Bineesh Kodiyeri also confirmed that there was a travel ban.
"The ban is because of a civil case filed by the opposite party. We didn't say that there is no case. A case of 1 million dirhams is pending, and that is the only dispute," he said. He said his brother would be able to file an appeal against the court order within a week and it will take a decision. "We don't have the required amount now. Let Binoy stay in Dubai. There is no urgency for him to return," he said.
JAAS Tourism LLC owner Hasan Ismaeel Abdullah Al Marzooqi had sought Indian government's assistance for registering a formal complaint to extradite him after he absconded from Dubai. He has accused him of cheating his company and his partner of AED 7,000,000 (Rs 13 crore). Mr Binoy had claimed that there was no case pending against him in Dubai and there was no travel ban. He had deposited 60,000 dirhams as penalty following which the case against him was scrapped. He even produced an electronically generated good conduct certificate from Dubai Police and document from a court stating that no case is pending against him.
