The Kerala High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a plea seeking registration of an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and CPI(M) MLA PA Mohammed Riyas in the CMRL monthly payoffs case.
The petitioner challenged the move of the State government to order a preliminary inquiry by the Crime Branch into allegations of bribery and corruption before registering an FIR. During the hearing in the HC on the matter, the ED handed over the communication it sent to the DGP in a sealed cover to the court. At the same time, Attorney General Jaju Babu, appearing for the State, argued that the petitioner had no locus standi and that the writ plea was premature.
The State’s move was propelled by the communication sent by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the state Director General of Police recommending initiating a corruption case against Vijayan and others based on the “evidence” it collected as part of its probe into the case. He also told the court that the ED’s disclosure does not exempt the authorities, in this case the state police, to conduct an independent evaluation and decipher whether the information relayed contained a statutory offence.
