Justice P Ubaid, who also upheld the discharge of two others in the Rs 374.50-crore graft case, rejected the CBI's plea that their full-fledged trial was necessary to prove the conspiracy.
The court gave its verdict in a revision petition filed by the CBI in the Kerala High Court in 2014 challenging the discharge of Vijayan and six others in the case by a special CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram.
"The CBI wrongly picked and chose Pinarayi Vijayan without any material in the case," the judge said today.
The CBI, which had filed the charge sheet in the case, had argued that there was sufficient evidence to prove the charges against the accused.
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The discharge by the special court was 'illegal', CBI had stated in its revision petition.
The CBI had in March argued before the court that a trial was must to prove the conspiracy in giving the contract to revamp the power projects to the Canadian firm when Vijayan was power minister in 1996.
Claiming that the conspiracy was hatched at different stages in awarding the contract, the CBI had assailed the lower court order discharging Vijayan and six others and said a full-fledged trial was necessary to prove the conspiracy.
In a criminal case, the actual trial begins only after framing of charges in the case by the court on the basis of prima facie evidence existing against the accused.