New Delhi, 21 October (H.S.): The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to pursue an appeal against a Kerala High Court order directing registration of an FIR against him in the CMRL-Exalogic case and stayed the investigation for one week.

A Bench comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana passed the order while hearing Vijayan's plea challenging the High Court's direction to register an FIR based on information provided by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to the Kerala Police.

We are not against any investigation. We will maintain the FIR but no investigation until and unless the issues are decided by the appellate court, the Bench observed.

On October 9, a single-judge Bench of the Kerala High Court directed registration of an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Vijayan, his daughter T Veena and his son-in-law P A Mohammed Riyas in the case.

Justice A Badharudeen delivered the order on a petition filed by KM Shajahan, former private secretary to late Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan. Shajahan had challenged the state government's decision to order a preliminary Crime Branch inquiry into the allegations instead of registering an FIR.

Following the High Court's direction, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau's Special Investigation Unit-1 registered two FIRs. The first named Vijayan as the principal accused and concerned alleged payments by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) to Veena and her company, Exalogic Solutions.

The second FIR named Riyas as the first accused and Veena as the second accused. It concerned separate allegations relating to financial transactions and the alleged transfer of money abroad through hawala channels.

Vijayan approached the Supreme Court after a Kerala High Court Division Bench on October 15 rejected three petitions seeking leave to appeal against the single-judge order. The Division Bench had observed that the order did not prevent the applicants from pursuing the statutory remedies available to them against the registration of an FIR.

It had also held that accused persons in corruption cases have no legal right to be heard before an FIR is registered and cannot insist on a preliminary inquiry where the available material discloses cognisable offences.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar