HC reserves order on plea seeking FIR against Vijayan, relatives

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 plea, filed by activist-lawyer KM Shajahan, also sought directions to the State government to hand over the current Crime Branch probe to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB).

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. 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.

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. 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.

The bench of Justice A Badhurudheen said it will look into the contents of the ED report and analyse the arguments presented by all sides on whether a preliminary inquiry can go on before registering an FIR based on the ED communication.