Ex-CM Pinarayi Vijayan, daughter Veena, Mohammad Riyas move Supreme Court for relief in CMRL-Exalogic case

CPI(M) leader and former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena Thaikkandiyil, and her husband Mohammed Riyas have moved petitions before the Supreme Court challenging a High Court order directing the registration of an an FIR against them in the CMRL-Exalogic case [Pinarayi Vijayan v Adv KM Shajahan & ors]..Vijayan's appeal was mentioned this morning before a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.CJI Surya Kant said that the Court will explore constituting a Bench during the vacation, subject to the availability of judges. If a Bench is available to hear the matter, it will be listed during vacation, the CJI said. Otherwise, the matter will be listed on October 26..Representing Vijayan, Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra today urged the Court to grant the CPI(M) leader interim protection."The threat is because now the FIR is registered. All I am saying is, let him be protected, because that is my concern. Otherwise, an 82-year-old gentleman will be put in custody... The FIR already stands registered. It is a matter of liberty. Otherwise, I would not request this urgency," he said. "It will not be listed today because I can only explore the possibility of constitution of a Bench... If a Bench is available during vacation, we will list it. Otherwise, October 26," CJI Kant replied. .The matter is tied to alleged irregularities in the financial transactions between Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) and Exalogic Solutions Private Limited, a company owned by Veena Thaikkandiyil.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that it unearthed certain incriminating material, which it shared with the Kerala Police. The State decided to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to hold a preliminary inquiry instead of immediately registering an FIR. A lawyer named KM Shajahan, who had also served as an additional private secretary to former CM and CPI (M) leader, late VS Achuthanandan when he was the Leader of Opposition, approached the Kerala High Court challenging this move and sought the registration of an FIR. On October 9, a single-judge Bench of the High Court allowed the petition and ordered the State's Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register an FIR based on the ED's information against Vijayan, Veena, Riyas and others suspected of corruption, including Nikhil P, Hassan Varish, Shyjal Muhammad and Nandulal M.This was challenged before a Division Bench of the High Court by way of appeals filed by Vijayan, Veena, Riyas and others. Notably, the appellants (Vijayan, Veena, Riyas and others) were not parties to the writ petition in which the single-judge's October 9 order was passed. Therefore, a question arose as to whether they can be given permission to challenge a judgment in a case to which they were not parties..A Division Bench of Justice K Natarajan and Justice Johnson John yesterday refused to permit the appellants to proceed with their appeal. It held that the appellants can still challenge the FIR itself, instead of the single-judge order for the registration of the FIR. "We find that the impugned judgment hasn't affected the right of the applicants to pursue the constitution of the statutory remedy against the registration of FIR and in such a situation all the applications seeking leave to file appeal are dismissed," the Division Bench of the High Court held.This ruling has now been challenged before the Supreme Court..Senior Advocates N Hariharan and advocates Mayank Jain, Gilbert George Correya, Madhur Jain and Arpit Goel are also representing the petitioners. .[Live Coverage]