Division Bench stays order to bridle Salim Raj

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Kochi: Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed a single bench order directing the police to produce the telephone records, including voice records, of Salim Raj, former gunman of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A M Shaffique passed the order after the state government filed an appeal. The Single Judge had issued the interim order on the petitions seeking an investigation by a special team or the Central Bureau of Investigation into two land deal cases in which Salim Raj is allegedly involved.
The court observed that the interim order passed by the single bench cannot be justified as there was no relevant material before the court to issue such an order. Without making the service providers as parties the court could not have passed the order. It was not mentioned what was the procedure adopted by those telephone companies in maintaining voice records in the tapes, the bench held.
If the court directed the police to seize phone call details, then it  will become a precedent in every fraud case. In every case the aggrieved party will seek telephone details,”the court observed. The court however upheld the order to seize the 'Thandaper' register of Kadkampally village. “There is some prima facie material regarding the Thandaper dispute,” it observed.