The Kerala High Court has stayed the functioning of the Justice V.K. Mohan Commission appointed by the State government to probe whether any conspiracy was hatched or deliberate attempts made to implicate Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other senior functionaries in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case.
The interim order was passed by Justice P.B. Sureshkumar on a writ petition filed by P. Radhakrishnan, the Deputy Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
In its order, the court noted that the question of conspiracy was to be examined by the Special Court supervising the investigation in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act probed by the ED.
The court held that parallel investigations and inquiries conducted would impede and derail the investigation and would ultimately go to the benefit of the accused, defeating the object of the legislation under which the accused were booked.
The court noted that the inquiry was ordered into the question whether the contents of a voice clip and a letter stated to have been issued by the accused persons in a gold smuggling case, which was investigated by the various Central agencies including ED, would reveal any conspiracy to falsely implicate the leaders of the political front of the State.
ED’s argument
Thushar Metha, Solicitor General, argued that the notification appointing the commission was issued with the oblique motive to put pressure on the investigation officers and to derail the investigation into money laundering committed by highly influential persons in the State.
Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, Assistant Solicitor General P. Vijayakumar, and Special Public Prosecutor T. A. Unnikrishnan had also appeared for the agency.
Rejecting the arguments of the State government, which challenged the locus standi of the Deputy Director of ED to file a writ petition, the court held that he was a statutory authority under the PML Act and could file the petition
One of the terms of reference of the commission was to inquire into the facts and circumstances leading to a letter written by Sandeep Nair, in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case, revealing an attempt to falsely implicate the State Ministers and Chief Minister and the Assembly Speaker in serious criminal cases.
It was also mandated to enquire into the facts stated in the voice clip, alleged to be that Swapna Suresh, which allegedly revealed an attempt to falsely implicate the Chief Minister in serious criminal offences.
