KOCHI: In a setback to former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and son-in-law, former minister Mohammed Riyas, the Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed their pleas seeking permission to appeal against a single judge’s order to register an FIR against them in the alleged CMRL bribery case.
Division Bench comprising Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John held that the single judge’s order did not prevent the applicants from pursuing the legal remedies available to them against the registration of the FIR. “In view of the above, all applications seeking leave to appeal are dismissed,” the court said.
The single judge had directed the registration of an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against them, based on information forwarded by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The counsel for Pinarayi Vijayan and others argued that the single judge passed the order without allowing them to be heard, violating the principles of natural justice. The Single Judge had observed that, apart from the notebooks and diaries, the information forwarded by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the state police chief contained sufficient material, including statements from several witnesses and the suspected persons. “The decision of the Government to form a Special Team to conduct an inquiry without registering an FIR is found illegal in the facts of the case and, therefore, the same is set aside,” the Single Judge had held.
While hearing the application filed by Pinarayi and two others, the state government informed that there was nothing wrong with conducting a preliminary inquiry before registering an FIR based on information provided by the ED.