CMRL payoff case: Setback for Pinarayi Vijayan, kin as Kerala HC dismisses pleas to appeal against FIR order

Former Keralam Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan | Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat In a setback for former Keralam Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his kin, the Kerala High Court on Thursday (October 15, 2026) dismissed their pleas to file appeals against a single judge direction to lodge an FIR against them in the CMRL-Exalogic payoff case.A Bench of Justices K. Natarajan and Johnson John rejected the applications of Mr. Vijayan, his daughter T. Veena and her husband and former Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas to file an appeal against the single’s judge’s October 9 order.The Bench said that the October 9 order “has not affected the applicants’ rights to pursue the constitutional statutory remedy against the registration of the FIR”.“All the applications seeking leave to file appeal are dismissed,” it said.The detailed judgement is awaited.Mr. Vijayan, Ms. Veena and Mr. Riyas, in their appeals, claimed that they were not heard by the single judge before issuing the October 9 direction to lodge the FIR. Published - October 15, 2026 10:50 am IST