New Delhi, Former Keralam chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging a High Court of Kerala order to register an FIR in the alleged CMRL bribery case.
The CJI said the matter would be heard when the apex court re-opens on October 26 after the Dussehra break. The high court on October 9 directed the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to register a case based on a report submitted by the Enforcement Directorate to the state police.
In a setback to Vijayan and his kin, the Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed their pleas to file appeals against a single-judge direction to lodge an FIR against them in the alleged CMRL bribery case. Vijayan, Veena and Riyas, in their appeals before the division bench, had claimed that they were not heard by the single judge before issuing the October 9 direction to lodge the FIR. The ED had sought registration of a case based on evidence gathered during its investigation and searches conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
A division bench of the high court rejected the applications of Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and her husband P A Mohamed Riyas to file an appeal against the single judge’s October 9 order, while holding that “an accused in a corruption case has no legal right to be heard before registering the FIR”.
