Final hearing to begin in Delhi High Court today in monthly payoff case

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court will hear the final arguments in the pleas related to the monthly payoff case involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan from today. The plea has been listed before a bench of Justice Anup Bhambhani.

Even though the case came for consideration in last October, lawyers for Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the central government did not appear in the court. A bench led by Justice Neena Bansal, which was hearing the case then, postponed the hearing. The pleas were earlier listed before the bench of Justice Girish Kathpalia. However, after the roster changed, they were placed before the new bench. The court had issued a notice to the center on the application filed by CMRL seeking an investigation report by the registrar of companies.

The Income Tax Settlement Board found that CMRL had received Rs 1.72 crore from Veena Vijayan and her software firm Exalogic for services not rendered. It was also found that money was also given to Veena as a loan.

Veena's Exalogic company had a liability of Rs 66 lakh per year. Later, the company's main source of income was from dealings with CMRL. Transactions were made with CMRL from 2017 to 2019. Veena received Rs 5 lakh monthly from CMRL. The SFIO chargesheet filed in the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court also stated that Rs 3 lakh per month came to the company's name.