New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed for seven days the investigation into the FIR registered by Kerala's Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) against former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter T Veena and son-in-law P A Mohamed Riyas in the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) bribery case.

The court said the petitioners were entitled to appeal before a division bench of the Kerala High Court against a single judge's direction to register an FIR in the case, LiveLaw reported.

The Supreme Court was hearing petitions filed by Vijayan, Veena and Riyas challenging the Kerala High Court's October 15 order rejecting their applications for permission to appeal against the single judge's October 9 direction to register an FIR.

A special bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took up the pleas during the court's Dussehra vacation.

The Kerala High Court had rejected the applications, holding that an accused in a corruption case had no legal right to be heard before the registration of an FIR.

Vijayan and the other petitioners had argued that the single judge issued the direction without hearing them. They also contended that the petition seeking an FIR was in the nature of a public interest litigation and should have been heard by a division bench dealing with PILs.

The VACB's Special Investigation Unit-1 registered two FIRs against Vijayan and his family members following the High Court's October 9 order. The direction was based on a report submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the state police.

The ED had sought the registration of a case based on evidence gathered during its investigation and searches conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The agency has alleged that CMRL made fraudulent payments totalling ₹2.78 crore to Veena's now defunct company, Exalogic Solutions, under the guise of IT consultancy services.