Bengaluru: A Dubai court has prevented the son of Kerala’s ruling party chief from leaving the country until he repays Rs1.73 crore to a company that accused him of cheating, a news report said.

Binoy Balakrishnan, son of Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, was stopped at the Dubai airport from where he was to catch a flight to Kerala, said a report on the website of Malayala Manorama, the largest Malayalam newspaper.

“We order to ban the debtor from travel and deposit his passport in the court’s safe," said a translated version of the order, the report said. The order added that the matter shall be repealed by either depositing the amount (Rs1.73 crore) or by providing a bank bail for the amount.

Dubai-based Jaas Tourism LLC has alleged Balakrishnan’s son did not repay a loan which has since grown to Rs13 crore. The company last month sought his arrest and extradition. Binoy went to Dubai last week to settle the case.

Bineesh Kodiyeri, his younger brother, speaking to local television reporters, confirmed that his brother is facing a travel ban and said an appeal will be filed a week later, and denied this will affect his father’s image.

“To bring our father into the picture, at a time when the district conferences of the CPM are going on, is nothing but a politically motivated move by the media," he said.

The CPM secretary first distanced himself from the case, but later produced a certificate from Dubai police which said there are no criminal cases pending against his son.

Meanwhile, local media reports said Jaas Tourism’s Hasan Ismaeel Abdulla Almarzooqi approached the CPM national leadership last month to liason for the return of his money, but his request was turned down. He was supposed to hold a press meet in Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram on Monday morning but the plan was canceled at the last minute.

“This is a case related to an individual and he has to settle it. The CPM will not interfere in this," S. Ramachandran Pillai, a member of the party’s national decision making forum, politburo, told Mint.

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