Pinarayi Vijayan moves HC against single bench order; plea to be considered today

KOCHI: Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan moved the Kerala High Court in the CMRL-Exalogic financial dealing case. His demand is to quash the single bench's order stating that a case can be registered against Pinarayi in the wake of the letter sent by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the state police chief.

The division bench will consider the plea this afternoon. Pinarayi is presently not a party in the case. Therefore, he cannot file a plea directly. To proceed with the case proceedings, a leave petition must first be submitted to the court. The argument will first take place today regarding whether that plea is maintainable. Pinarayi approached the court not against the FIR presently registered by the vigilance, but against the order of the single bench.

The vigilance has registered two cases in connection with the monthly payoff and hawala allegations. The first case pertains to the financial transactions between CMRL and Exalogic, in which Pinarayi is the first accused and his daughter Veena is the second accused.

The second case involves smuggling corrupted money abroad during Mohammad Riyas's tenure as a minister. In this case, Riyas is the first accused and Veena, the second accused. The cases have been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. A special investigation team will also be formed today to probe these cases.