Today,the Supreme Court stayed orders of the Kerala High Court, quashing an FIR against Dr Jacob Thomas, former Director General of Police (DGP), in a corruption case. 

A division bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Sanjay Karol held that the stay was granted only to facilitate the investigation.

Further the Court directs Thomas to cooperate with the probe.

Today, during the hearing, court had issued notice to Thomas on an appeal moved by Sathyan Naravoor, the complainant at whose instance the FIR was originally registered.

Earlier, the Supreme Court questioned why the State had not filed an appeal against the High Court verdict.

The High Court order under challenge had quashed an FIR registered by the Special Investigation Unit of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau against the high-ranking IPS official, who was accused of abusing his position and reaping financial gains at the expense of the government exchequer.

Dr Jacob Thoma has been charged under Sec13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sec 120B of the Indian Penal Code.

The appeal, during the cousre of hearing mentioned that the High Court committed a grave error by putting an end to the investigation.

It was the original complainant's submission that the FIR had been filed after a preliminary inquiry that was conducted by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

It was emphasised that this was not an isolated case of abuse of power by Thomas. Rather, the Court was told that he was embroiled in several such proceedings across the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Even if it is assumed that the FIR was mala fide, that alone could not have been grounds to quash the case if there is ample material to proceed with the probe, the appeals stated.