Kochi/New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday summoned former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to appear before it on Friday (October 23) in connection with the CMRL-Exalogic case.
An Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was registered on October 14, adding a fresh dimension to the legal troubles surrounding the alleged payments by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) to Exalogic Solutions, a company linked to Vijayan’s daughter Veena.
The development comes amid a setback for Vijayan and his son-in-law, Mohammed Riyas, in the Kerala High Court.
The two have now approached the Supreme Court, challenging the High Court’s order directing the registration of a corruption case in the CMRL-Exalogic transaction.
The petitioners have sought a stay on the Vigilance proceedings for registering an FIR.
The appeal has been assigned a diary number, but the Supreme Court did not take it up on Friday after their request for an urgent hearing was rejected.
The High Court’s Division Bench had on Thursday rejected their plea for permission to appeal against a single judge bench order directing the registration of a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The order followed an ED communication concerning the alleged transactions.
Both the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau and the ED have registered two separate cases. One case is against Vijayan, in which he is the first accused, and his daughter, Veena, is the second accused. In the second case, Mohammad Riyas, CPI(M) MLA, is the first accused, and his wife, Veena, is the second accused.
Vijayan, Riyas and Veena had argued that the single judge’s order violated their legal rights because they were not parties to the original proceedings and had not been heard before the order was issued.
The Division Bench rejected these arguments.
It held that the accused need not be heard before an FIR is registered and that this would not violate their legal rights.
The court also held that a preliminary inquiry was not necessary if sufficient material was available to justify registering a case. This position was also seen as a setback for the state government.
With the ED summons and the Supreme Court appeal coming close on the heels of the High Court setback, the CMRL-Exalogica case has entered a crucial phase, with the Central agency’s proceedings and the Vigilance case emerging as parallel legal challenges.
This is the first time that a CPI(M) politburo member has been summoned by the ED.
(IANS)
