High court dismisses plea for probe into Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's alleged role in gold smuggling

KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by HRDS India secretary for a court-monitored probe by Customs and ED into the allegations against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the gold smuggling and money laundering case.
Dismissing the petition filed by Aji Krishnan, justice Bechu Kurian Thomas accepted the contention of advocate general K Gopalakrishna Kurup that the demand was already considered and dismissed by two division benches of the high court earlier.
The court also pointed out that the petitioner had not produced any materials to show that an effective probe was not being conducted by the Customs and the ED into the allegations.
Customs had informed the court that two cases were filed regarding gold and foreign-currency smuggling following the probe conducted on the basis of the show cause notice, in which a reference was made regarding the involvement of high constitutional functionaries.
The court said a direction to conduct further investigation could not be issued after such action by the Customs unless there were exceptional circumstances.
“Except for assumptions and surmises, no material has been produced by the petitioner to countenance such exceptional circumstances,” the court said.
There are no materials to conclude that the Customs’ decision to proceed only against some persons is wrong, the court added.
Further, the court referred to the submission by the central government counsel that the ED had initiated prosecution for money laundering also.
In such circumstances, the demand for a fair and just investigation cannot arise, the court said while noting that no materials had been produced to substantiate the allegation that the investigation was not being conducted properly.
In the judgment dismissing the plea, the court said, “On an appreciation of the above circumstances, it is evident that even the very apprehension expressed by the petitioner regarding the non-conduct of a fair and proper investigation is without any basis. The Customs as well as the Enforcement Directorate have conducted or are conducting proper investigations. There are also no reasons to assume that if the involvement of any person is revealed in the investigation, they will not be proceeded against”.