The Kerala high court on Monday stayed the FIR and further investigation by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) against former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan , his daughter Veena T and son-in-law, CPI(M) MLA PA Mohammed Riyas, in the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) monthly payoffs case.
The case concerns allegations that CMRL paid ₹ 2.78 crore to Exalogic, Veena’s now-defunct IT firm, purportedly for consultancy and marketing services. The agency has claimed that bank records showed Veena and her company received ₹ 3.28 crore from CMRL, including payments allegedly made without invoices or evidence of services rendered. “All four appeals are hereby admitted. Consequently, the judgment of the single judge of this court under challenge is stayed until the next date of hearing. Vijayan welcomed the ruling, saying, “At every stage, I had faith in the country’s justice system. I believed strongly that law will take its own course. The Enforcement Directorate, probing the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act , has alleged that the payments were made without corresponding services.
Further investigation on the FIR is kept in abeyance until further orders,” the high court said.
A division bench of Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John passed the interim order while hearing appeals against an earlier single-judge ruling directing registration of a corruption case and a Vigilance probe. The Supreme Court had earlier stayed the FIR for a week, allowing Vijayan and the others to approach the High Court again. The HC verdict today reaffirms it.
