NEW DELHI, October 21 (Aalimi Nation) – The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed for one week the investigation against former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena T. and his son-in-law P.A. Mohamed Riyas in the CMRL bribery case, while leaving the First Information Report (FIR) in place. The Supreme Court CMRL case order lets the three approach the Kerala High Court's Division Bench against a single judge's direction to register the FIR.

A Bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana said it would allow the FIR to exist but halt the investigation until the issues are decided by the appellate forum. The court also observed that the matter was not an investigation directed by a court, and cautioned agencies against using statutory powers to meddle in the domain of other statutory bodies.

What the court clarified

The Bench said its observations related only to the petitioners' standing to file an appeal, not to the merits of the case. It gave them liberty to pursue the appeal and to seek interim relief before the High Court.

How the case reached the Supreme Court

On October 9, a single judge of the Kerala High Court directed the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to register a case on the basis of a report that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had sent to the state police. The ED had sought action on the strength of evidence gathered during its investigation and searches under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

On October 15, the High Court rejected applications by Vijayan, Veena and Riyas seeking to appeal that order. It held that an accused in a corruption case has no legal right to be heard before an FIR is registered. The three had argued that they were not heard before the single judge issued the direction, and that the petition was in the nature of a public interest litigation that should have gone to a Division Bench.

Following the direction, the Vigilance Bureau's Special Investigation Unit-1 registered two FIRs against Vijayan and members of his family.

The allegation

The ED has alleged that the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) made fraudulent payments of Rs 2.78 crore to Exalogic Solutions, a now-defunct company linked to Veena, in the guise of IT consultancy services. The allegations are yet to be tested at trial, and the Supreme Court has made no finding on them.

What happens next

The one-week stay gives Vijayan, Veena and Riyas time to move the Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, which will have to decide whether the single judge's order and the resulting FIR can stand. The Supreme Court's protection is limited to a week, so the High Court's response to any interim plea will determine whether the investigation can resume. No date for a High Court hearing was available at the time of writing, and responses from the three to the order were not found in the available accounts.