Relief for CM Vijayan, daughter and CMRL as Kerala HC orders status quo in SFIO case

Kochi, April 16 (IANS) Giving relief to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena Vijayan, and Kochi-based mining company CMRL, a vacation bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered status quo for two months on a trial court’s decision to take cognisance of a complaint filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in a financial fraud case.

Vacation bench judge, Justice T.R. Ravi, passed the interim order while considering the challenge raised by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) against the April 11 order passed by the Additional District and Sessions Judge-VII, Ernakulam.

The high court said that the petition raised fundamental questions of law which needed to be considered.

“Additional Solicitor General (ASG) takes notice for the first respondent. Issue notice to respondents 2 to 12. The ASG shall place on record their counter-affidavit. Since a fundamental question regarding the taking of cognizance has been raised, and since issues concerning the applicability of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) have been put in question, there will be a direction to the respondents to maintain status quo as on today, for a period of two months,” the court ordered.

“Post the matter immediately after court reopens,” the order said.

The SFIO had, last week, filed its charge sheet on the purportedly illegal deal between Veena Vijayan’s now defunct IT firm Exalogic and CMRL after finding that her firm had allegedly received a monthly gratification of around Rs 2.70 crore from the CMRL for mining sanctions.

These payments, according to the SFIO, were made without any actual services being rendered.

The SFIO had filed its charge sheet at an economic offences court here, and the process of sending summons to all the accused was in process, when this major relief came.

Incidentally, the ED also had started a preliminary probe into this case, and in the past, both the Karnataka and Kerala High Courts had rejected petitions filed by Veena and the state-run KSIDC, which has a stake in CMRL.

Both Vijayan and the CPI-M have made it clear that they will fight the case legally and politically.

–IANS

SG/VD