Kerala High Court dismisses impleading pleas in Lavalin corruption case

Kochi: Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed the petitions filed by third parties seeking permission to make them a party in the controversial Lavalin case. The court dismissed the pleas filed by K.M. Shajahan, former additional private secretary of V.S. Achuthanandan, T.P. Nandakumar , Jeevan and K.R. Unnithan to implead themselves in the Lavalin case.

The petitioners challenged the Thiruvananthapuram CBI court order acquitting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and others in the Lavalin graft case. The court, meanwhile, granted two months’ time for the CBI so that it could engage Additional Solicitor-General of India Paramjith Singh Patwalia for the CBI in the case.

Justice Kemal Pasha dismissed the plea and observed that the revision petitions filed by the third parties could not be entertained in view of the pendency of the revision pleas filed by the CBI. Their intervention can be entertained only when the prosecuting agency is not challenging the order of discharge.

The CBI counsel sought to dismiss the impleading pleas and argued that the petitions filed by private persons and third parties may cause hindrance and obstructions to the claims forwarded by the CBI in their petitions.

“Even if any persons were in possession of some documents to prove the case, the same was of no use at all at this stage. In fact, they should have challenged the investigation conducted by the CBI or the final report through appropriate proceedings. In the absence of any challenge against the final report filed under section 173 of Criminal Procedure Code or the documents produced along with, the third parties could not come forward with documents at this stage and challenge the trial court order,” the court observed.