Kerala High Court grants interim protection from arrest to Laly Vincent in CSR Scam

The Kerala High Court on Thursday ordered that Congress leader Laly Vincent should not be arrested for the time being in relation to the CSR fund scam [Laly Vincent v State of Kerala]..Justice PV Kunhikrishnan passed the direction after Vincent, a lawyer, approached the Court seeking anticipatory bail.The single-judge granted the Vincent protection from arrest till the next hearing date though he prima facie took a serious note of the allegations against her, specifically her claim that a sum of ₹50 lakh credited to her account was consideration for legal advice tendered by her to the prime accused in the case, Ananthu Krishnan. "₹50 lakh has been credited to her account," the judge asked.However, the Court directed that no arrest be made until the next hearing date..Laly has been booked for offences under Sections 316(2) (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 318(4) (punishment for cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, registered at the Kannur Town South Police Station.Vincent, who served as the legal advisor to the controversial NGOs behind the scam, has been added as the seventh accused in the case.The prime accused one Ananthu Krishnan, has been booked for fleecing public to the tune of more than ₹1,000 crores by promising two-wheelers to women, sewing machines, laptops etc at half the price.Krishnan had formed an organisation ‘Muvattupuzha Socio-Economic Development Society and various seed societies were registered across the State.People were promised products at half their market price while the balance was to be covered by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds from big companies.After the vehicles were never provided and the money was allegedly misappropriated, various cases came to be registered across the State.While Vincent conceded that she knows Krishnan and had also tendered legal advice to him, the money she received was only her fees as a lawyer.In her petition, Vincent requested that the Court to grant anticipatory bail, emphasising her innocence and the lack of substantial evidence to implicate her in the alleged scam..As per the plea, she had no involvement in any of the transactions of the other accused persons and she has been wrongfully implicated due to political agenda.In her petition, Vincent emphasised that she was only acting in her professional capacity as a legal advisor to the prime accused.The petitioner further claimed that the police have tried to tarnish her reputation by including her name in the FIR, despite her only role being that of legal counsel for the prime accused in civil matters.She also raised concerns that the police refused to provide her with a copy of the First Information Statement (FIS), preventing her from fully defending herself..The petition on behalf of Laly Vincent was filed by advocates S Rajeev, V Vinay, MS Aneer, Sarath KP, KS Kiran Krishnan, and Anilkumar CR and Dipa V.