A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has refused to grant an interim stay on a Single Bench order directing the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register an FIR against former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena T., and her husband, former minister Mohammed Riyas.
On October 9, Justice A. Badharudeen allowed a writ petition filed by K.M. Shajahan and directed the VACB director to register an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act based on information shared by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The court held that the material shared by the ED disclosed cognizable offences, making a further preliminary inquiry unnecessary. It also set aside the UDF government's order constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a preliminary inquiry instead of registering an FIR.
Pinarayi Vijayan, Veena and Riyas filed separate appeals challenging the Single Bench order. Since they were not formal respondents in the original writ petition, they also filed applications seeking the Division Bench's permission, or leave, to challenge the judgment.
They argued that they had not been heard before an order directly affecting them was passed and should have been impleaded as necessary parties. They also contended that the writ petition resembled a public interest litigation (PIL), which would have been more appropriately heard by a Division Bench. Further, they argued that a preliminary inquiry was permissible in corruption cases and that the police had discretion in deciding whether to register an FIR.
The Kerala government, too, defended the preliminary-inquiry approach, arguing that the ED's material required verification to determine whether cognizable offences had been made out. The ED, however, strongly opposed the appeals, arguing that there was no general right to be heard at the FIR-registration stage and that the Single Bench order had already been implemented.
With the Division Bench refusing interim relief, the Single Bench's direction and the FIRs registered pursuant to it remain operative. The High Court had also directed the SIT constituted for the preliminary inquiry to hand over its records to the VACB director. The police have registered two FIRs based on the ED's letter to the Director General of Police (DGP).
In the first FIR, Pinarayi is the prime accused and Veena is accused No. 2. The FIR invokes Section 120B of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with criminal conspiracy, along with provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Businessman and CMRL managing director Sasidharan Kartha and the company's chief financial manager, P. Suresh Kumar, are also accused in this FIR.
In the second FIR, Riyas is the prime accused and Veena is accused No. 2. It alleges that Riyas misused his position as a cabinet minister to amass illicit wealth, which was subsequently routed abroad to create offshore assets through a network of associates and shell entities.
The FIR further alleges that Veena travelled to Dubai four times in 2024 to establish a benami shell entity to launder illicitly amassed funds utilising an associate of Riyas, Faijaz, as the primary operational front. It also alleges that Riyas, Veena and three other accused discussed funding a Dubai-based garment firm.
According to the FIR, a WhatsApp group named Nammal Beypore Core Team allegedly served as a channel for certain hawala transactions. It also alleges that Veena, who purportedly had no “discernible lawful source of income” during the relevant period, managed funds allegedly generated by Riyas from the minister's bungalow.
CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan said the government should have appealed against the Kerala High Court Single Bench order. He also said the government had not attempted to expose the “ED’s politics”.
Incidentally, the CPI(M) will hold a seminar tomorrow on the “political witch-hunt by central agencies”, to be attended by former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha.
