Kerala High Court to consider appeal of Pinarayi Vijayan against registration of FIR in CMRL-Exalogic pay-off case on October 26, 2026

A politically significant legal battle will unfold before a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday (October 26, 2026), when former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and others challenge a Single Judge’s order directing the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against them in the CMRL-Exalogic pay-off case.

It was on a petition from lawyer K.M. Shajahan, who approached the court against the government decision to go for a preliminary inquiry rather than register an FIR, that the Single Judge issued the order.

Mr. Vijayan and others had last week secured a favourable order from the Supreme Court against an order of the Division Bench, which refused them leave to challenge the Single Judge’s order. The Single Judge, while ordering the registration of the FIR, had also quashed the decision of the State government to constitute a Special Investigation Team to probe the details revealed in a letter from the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) regarding the alleged corruption committed by Mr. Vijayan. On its part, the ED booked cases against Mr. Vijayan’s daughter T. Veena and son-in-law P.A. Mohamed Riyas for money laundering and hawala transactions based on the FIR, which was registered based on its letter to the State Police Chief. The apex court had also stayed the investigation into the case for 10 days, which gave a breather for Mr. Vijayan and others.

The Supreme Court had held that Section 175 (4) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita ensured that the participation of a public servant who was made a potential accused was mandatory before the registration of FIR. The court thus upheld the contention of Mr. Vijayan that the Single Judge ordered the FIR against him without hearing him. The Division Bench ought to have granted him leave to challenge the Single Judge’s order, the Supreme Court held.

The case had set off a series of inner-party squabbles in the State unit of the ruling Congress, especially the government decision not to hurriedly register an FIR based on the letter from the ED but to constitute a Special Investigative Team and launch a preliminary investigation. A section of the Congress legislators, including Mathew Kuzhalnadan, MLA, had objected to the government decision. He also criticised that the government acted based on wrong legal opinion.

However, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala stuck to the stand that the party took an informed decision after weighing all legal and political options. They even took a dig at Mr. Kuzhalnadan for his botched legal cases against Mr. Vijayan.

When Mr. Vijayan’s appeal comes up before the Division Bench on Monday, the State government is likely to stick to its earlier stand that the preliminary investigation should have been conducted and an FIR registered only if the commission of a cognizable offence is detected. The State had informed the Supreme Court that it was forced to register the FIR and launch an investigation pursuant to the orders of the Single Judge.