Kerala Orders Crime Branch Inquiry Into ED Report on Pinarayi Vijayan, Daughter

The Kerala government has directed the state police chief to conduct an inquiry into a report from the Enforcement Directorate that sought action against former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and her husband P A Mohamed Riyas in the alleged Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) bribery case.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the decision was taken after the government studied the legal opinion of the Advocate General, which left the further course of action to the state police. The inquiry will be handled by the Crime Branch wing of the state police, and no FIR has been registered at this stage.

According to Chennithala, the Advocate General's letter was received by the Director General of Police, who forwarded it to the Home Secretary. The Home Secretary then placed it before the government for directions. The minister said he had sought the legal opinion and received it two days ago, after which he discussed the matter with Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Tuesday morning. An order assigning the DGP to conduct the inquiry was to be issued shortly after that discussion.

Chennithala said the legal opinion drew on two Supreme Court judgments concerning the duty of law enforcement agencies to act on information received and the circumstances in which a preliminary inquiry may be held before an FIR is registered. He cited Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, under which an agency that receives information is legally obliged to act on it — the basis, he said, for the letter sent to the DGP. He also referred to the Lalita Kumari judgment, noting that a preliminary inquiry is permissible in certain categories of cases, including corruption matters, where the information received does not clearly disclose a cognisable offence.

The DGP will decide the further course of the inquiry, the minister said.

The ED had written to State Police Chief Ravada A Chandrasekhar seeking an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Vijayan, now Leader of Opposition, along with Veena and Riyas, citing evidence it said was gathered during its probe and searches under the PMLA. The agency has alleged that CMRL made fraudulent payments of Rs 2.78 crore to Veena's now-defunct company, Exalogic Solutions, described as IT consultancy services. It searched premises linked to Veena, who was then living with Vijayan at a rented accommodation in Thiruvananthapuram, in June and later questioned her.