New Delhi: In a setback to former Kerala DGP Jacob Thomas, the Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into the dredger corruption case.

The apex court stayed the Kerala High Court judgment that quashed FIR against the retired IPS officer. The court directed the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to complete the investigation within two months.

At the same time, the court said  Jacob Thomas should not be arrested during this period.

The apex court also clarified that the role of everyone involved in the transaction should be investigated.

The Vigilance filed the case against Jacob Thomas in 2019. It was alleged that while he was the Director of Ports from September 16, 2009, to March 17, 2014, he had proposed a tender for the purchase of a cutter suction dredger without the approval of the technical committee. 

The FIR alleged that he accepted the bid of the Netherlands-based IHC Merwede in 2012, without obtaining a revised administrative sanction from the government. 

However, the Kerala High Court quashed the FIR saying that the decision to accept the tender was taken by the department purchase committee, which included three representatives of the state government. When culpability was attributed on the basis of a collective decision, criminal proceedings could not be initiated against only one of them. 

The state government had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the HC verdict.

In the appeal, it was alleged that many facts about the tender to purchase dredgers were hidden from the state government.