CBI clean chit to Cong general secretary Venugopal

The case was handed over to the CBI months before the assembly election in 2021 after Nair petitioned the CM complaining that she was not got justice in sexual assault charges she raised against many leaders and sought a central agency probe

Thiruvananthapuram:

In the report submitted in the CJM court, the CBI said it failed to find any evidence to connect the accused (K C Venugopal ) to the charges raised by the complainant Saritha Nair and sought its permission to close the case. (HT Archives)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday submitted a report at the chief judicial magistrate court in Thiruvananthapuram, giving a clean chit to Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal in a sexual assault case related to solar cheating case.

In the report submitted in the CJM court, the central agency said it failed to find any evidence to connect the accused to the charges raised by the complainant Saritha Nair and sought its permission to close the case. Earlier the CBI had given clean chit to three other Congress leaders Hibi Eden MP, Adoor Prakash MP and former minister A P Anil Kumar.

The case was handed over to the CBI months before the assembly election in 2021 after Nair petitioned the CM complaining that she was not got justice in sexual assault charges she raised against many leaders and sought a central agency probe. The government quickly handed over the case to the CBI in an apparent move to checkmate the Congress in gold smuggling case of 2020.

In her complaint, Nair alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the Congress leader on four occasions. But the CBI said her explanation and subsequent evidence were not matching and not sufficient enough to go ahead with the case. Venugopal was not available for his comments as he was busy with the ongoing Bharat Jodo yatra of Rahul Gandhi.

The solar cheating case, which led to the downfall of Congress regime in 2016, relates to an alleged con woman Saritha Nair and her second husband Biju Radhakrishnan, who was later convicted in a murder case, floated a company called ‘Team Solar’ in 2013 and cheated many promising them stakes in the firm and good returns after selling imported solar panels. They allegedly cultivated good contacts in corridors of power and flaunted them to attract gullible investors.

The cheating case was surfaced in 2014 and 60 cases were registered against the two. Later the Nair had raised sexual assault charges against many Congress leaders including then CM Chandy, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, Adoor Prakash MP, former minister A P Anil Kumar, Hibi Eden MP and BJP leader A P Abdullha Kutty. The CPI(M)-led opposition had exploited the case well to unseat Chandy regime in 2016 assembly elections. Later the CBI filed 6 separate cases_ now cases against Chandy and Kutty are remaining.