The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed for a week the investigation against former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and her husband P A Mohamed Riyas in the alleged Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) bribery case, according to PTI reporting carried by The Hindu BusinessLine.

A bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana allowed Vijayan and the others to approach the division bench of the Kerala High Court against a single judge order. The court set aside the division bench order that had refused them leave to appeal, and said its observations were limited to their right to appeal and were not an expression of opinion on the merits of the case.

On October 15, the Kerala High Court had rejected the applications of Vijayan, Veena and Riyas to file an appeal against the single judge's October 9 order, holding that an accused in a corruption case has no legal right to be heard before registering an FIR. The three had claimed they were not heard before the direction to lodge the FIR was issued.

The appeals were moved after the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau's Special Investigation Unit-1 registered two FIRs against Vijayan and his family members. On October 9, the Kerala High Court had directed the bureau to register a case based on a report submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the state police.

The ED has alleged that CMRL made fraudulent payments of Rs 2.78 crore to Veena's now-defunct company Exalogic Solutions under the guise of IT consultancy services. That allegation has not been decided on its merits by the Supreme Court in this order, and the investigation will remain stayed for one week to enable the petitioners to pursue their appeal.