KOCHI : The Kerala High Court has sought the view of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea seeking the preservation and retention of the CCTV footage of interrogations of three officials of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL), including a woman, in the pay-off case also involving IT firm Exalogic Solutions owned by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena T.
The court also declined to interfere in the new summons issued by the ED to CMRL MD S N Sasidharan Kartha asking him to appear before it on April 16 (Tuesday). The court will consider the case on April 19. Kartha did not appear for questioning on Tuesday.
The petitioners, CMRL senior manager N C Chandrasekharan, senior officer Anju Rachael Kuruvila and chief financial officer K S Suresh Kumar, alleged the ED detained them illegally for over 24 hours and that too overnight. The trio was questioned from 10.30am on Monday to 10.30am on Tuesday. In the petition, they also sought preservation of their call detail records (CDRs) as well as that of the investigation officer from April 15 to April 16.
The petitioners alleged they were compelled to obtain and share information regarding CMRL such as the password of the company’s email, as well as privileged and confidential documents, despite the protection granted by the HC on April 12.
The ED’s counsel submitted that the petitioners were allowed to leave on Tuesday. As for the CCTV footage, the counsel sought time to provide information. “I have to get instruction whether it has been recorded or is available with ED,” the counsel said, adding that nothing prevents the ED from questioning a woman and that the investigation team includes a woman officer.
As for Kartha, the ED submitted that he is bound to appear before the agency based on the summons.