KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made a significant move in the monthly pay-off case involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has approached the court to obtain a copy of the chargesheet. Whereas ED has submitted an application in the Ernakulam special court for the chargesheet related to the Exalogic-CMRL deal. This step made by the ED is aimed at expediting the investigation after reviewing the chargesheet.

The Delhi High Court accepted the request from CMRL to refer the investigation report in the monthly pay-off case to the previous bench. The request of CMRL to halt prosecution proceedings in the case will now be considered by a bench led by Justice Subramanian Prasad. The main petition by CMRL seeking to invalidate the investigations by the ED and SFIO has also been assigned to this bench.

The bench of Justice Girish Kathpalia, which reviewed CMRL's petition yesterday, did not approve a stay in the case. It raised concerns about the viability of seeking to stay this case since the chargesheet has already been submitted. CMRL's lawyer Kapil Sibal highlighted that the SFIO's action of filing the chargesheet, despite the verbal instruction from the judge, was a breach of the court order. Additional Solicitor General SE Raju, representing the central government, stated that he was unaware of any such verbal instruction.