The CBI on Thursday submitted before the Kerala High Court that it will soon file a review petition challenging the acquittal of CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and six other accused in the SNC-Lavalin case.
The CBI made the submission when a petition by T P Nandakumar, editor of Malayalam fortnightly ‘Crime’, challenging the acquittal order by Thiruvananthapuram CBI special court, came up for hearing. Considering the submission, Justice Thomas P Joseph observed that the petition could be taken up along with the petition by the CBI after three weeks. The court said that it has to go through the file of the case.
In his petition, Nandakumar contended that the special court had overemphasised the non-execution of an agreement in relation to the grant of money to Malabar Cancer Centre to find reasons for discharging the accused.
He pointed out that the special court was not expected to examine whether there was sufficient ground for conviction of the accused or whether the trial was sure to end in his conviction.
Vijayan, while serving as Electricity Minister from May 1996 to October 998, had hatched a criminal conspiracy to award the contract for the renovation and modernisation of Pallivasal, Sengulam and Panniar hydroelectric projects to Canadian company SNC-Lavalin at an exorbitant rate.