CMRL case: VD Satheesan says Kerala govt acted according to law, not in haste

Thiruvananthapuram: Keralam Chief Minister VD Satheesan on Thursday said the state government had acted in accordance with the law and had not rushed to register an FIR against former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family members in the alleged CMRL bribery case.

Addressing a press conference, Satheesan said he had consulted Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, senior Cabinet ministers and United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders before the government decided to seek legal advice on how to proceed after receiving a letter from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking an FIR under the anti-corruption law.

“We did not act in undue haste as this government will not abuse the power it has to settle scores or political vendettas. We took legal advice and acted in accordance with that to initiate a preliminary enquiry into the allegations by the Enforcement Directorate,” Satheesan said.

He added that the government implemented the Kerala High Court’s direction to register an FIR after the court held that a preliminary inquiry was unnecessary.

“So we acted in accordance with the law,” he said.

The chief minister was responding to questions about the High Court’s decision on Thursday to dismiss pleas filed by Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and her husband, P A Mohamed Riyas, challenging a single-judge order dated October 9. The order had directed the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register an FIR based on the ED’s report in the alleged CMRL bribery case.

Home Minister Chennithala also said the verdict was not a setback for the government, maintaining that it had acted according to the law and without political vendetta.

The ruling triggered contrasting reactions from political parties. BJP leaders welcomed the verdict, while the CPM described the case against Vijayan, Veena and Riyas as false and politically motivated.

BJP leader Shone George said the former chief minister should resign as Leader of the Opposition if he had “a shred of shame”. BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in a post on X, called the High Court ruling decisive and demanded Vijayan’s resignation.

Chandrasekhar also accused the Congress of opportunistic politics, alleging that it had acted against BJP representatives in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation but was reluctant to act against Vijayan.

CPM state secretary M V Govindan said the party would respond politically and legally after examining the judgment. He argued that the government should have appealed against the single-judge order instead of registering an FIR.

Govindan alleged that the vigilance case was a planned move by the ED and the UDF government to target Vijayan, Riyas and the CPM. Former state minister M B Rajesh also criticised the government for not filing an appeal and accused it of acting in haste.

Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who had sought action against Vijayan in the CMRL matter, welcomed the verdict. He said the ruling vindicated his stand, but added that he would not use the occasion to ridicule the former chief minister, considering his age and years in public life.

The Division Bench of Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John rejected the applications filed by Vijayan, Veena and Riyas to appeal against the October 9 order. It held that an accused in a corruption case had no legal right to be heard before an FIR was registered.

The court also said the dismissal of the applications did not affect the petitioners’ right to pursue constitutional or statutory remedies against the FIR.

It further observed that a preliminary inquiry was unnecessary when sufficient material indicating cognisable offences was furnished along with information provided by the ED under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

PTI