The Kerala High Court has sought the response of the Centre and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on a petition seeking a CBI probe into the ₹700-crore scam in which investors were reportedly assured of defence contracts of the US armed forces.

The court further directed the State government to submit a report on the progress of the police probe into the matter, on a plea for a CBI probe filed by Thiruvananthapuram native A. Harikrishnan who submitted that he had lost ₹1 crore in the scam.

A private firm involved in the scam had allegedly claimed that it had secured the defence deal based on a secretive Indo-US Pacific Peace Treaty. Investors from Kerala and other States had said they invested ₹700 crore in the project, which turned out to be a scam.

The matter has been posted for hearing on 18 August.