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Solar scam: CBI begins probe against Chandy, other leaders
While Chandy welcomed CBI’s investigation, others called it “part of a witch-hunt to discredit them.”
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday took over the probe into allegations of sexual exploitation against former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, former Union minister (of state) KC Venugopal, and others by the woman accused in the 2013 solar fraud case.
Confirming the development, a CBI official in Delhi said the central agency has taken over six FIRs filed by the state crime branch and filed FIRs in the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Thiruvananthapuram.
In 2018, the state crime branch registered cases against several senior Congress leaders after Saritha S Nair, an accused in the solar fraud case that happened when the UDF government was in power, accused them of sexually exploiting her in 2012. In her complaint in 2016, Nair alleged that she was subjected to sexual abuse by the accused in return for favours granted to her.
Besides Chandy and AICC general secretary (organisation) Venugopal, MPs Hibi Eden and Adoor Prakash, former state minister A P Anil Kumar and BJP national vice-president AP Abdullakutty was also named in the cases. Kutty was in Congress when the allegations against him surfaced but later joined the BJP.
The CPI(M)-led Kerala government formed a judicial commission and handed over the cases to the central agency in January. While Chandy welcomed CBI’s investigation, others called it “part of a witch-hunt to discredit them.” “I don’t have anything to hide. Let any agency probe it, I welcome it,” Chandy said. Eden, the MP from Kochi, said the CBI probe was a part of a sinister plan to discredit Congress leaders and that he will deal with the case legally. The CPI(M) said it was a routine affair as the case was handed over to the agency in January.
