Thiruvananthapuram: The Special Investigation Team headed by DGP south-zone Rajesh Dewan is unlikely to register an FIR straightaway based on the surmises of Justice G. Sivarajan commission of active collusion between former chief minister Oommen Chandy, his cabinet colleagues and aides with con woman Saritha S. Nair and her ex-husband Biju Radhakrishnan, the managing director of Team Solar Renewable Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
The current decision of the state government is a go-back from its earlier decision on October 11 to register a case against the accused and investigate it. In the changed scenario, the case would be a logical conclusion of the preliminary probes to be undertaken by the SIT on the Vigilance angle, rather than the alleged sexual offences.
While the commission did not make any fact- finding on the sexual allegations raised by Saritha against Mr Chandy and several other UDF leaders and police officials, it suggested action under the Prevention of Corruption Act for all illegal gratifications. Mr Chandy was accused of accepting bribes to the tune of '2.16 crore and former power minister Aryadan Muhammed of taking '25 lakh from Saritha and Team Solar.
The commission also found that former home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan tried to save Mr Chandy from criminal liability. Attem-pts to sabotage the probe by several politicians and police officials were the other findings of the commission. The commission report, along with action taken report, was tabled by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the Assembly during...
the special one-day session on Thursday. Mr. Pinarayi said that the government took three legal opinions before finalising the actions on the solar commission report to ensure that justice was done.
A formal inquiry order was issued by the government late on Wednesday night constituting a SIT headed by Rajesh Dewan to probe into the charges, including bribery, sexual gratifications, attempt to sabotage the probe and nexus of Saritha Nair and her Team Solar with politicians. The government order also said that any further complaints or evidence regarding the solar scam could also be probed by the SIT.
Since there were contradictions in the names mentioned by Saritha with regard to those who sexually abused her, the chances of Saritha lodging a fresh petition to the SIT could not be ruled out. Otherwise, a petition recently filed by Saritha with the chief minister in this regard could be referred to the SIT. Already, one sexual assault case was registered by the police on the basis of Saritha’s petition against former MLA A.P. Abdullakutty, which is still pending.
The SIT will be holding a formal meeting in a couple of days to decide the future course of action. Mr Dewan is due to retire in April 2018 and there were even reports that he had expressed reservations about taking up the probe.
The 1,073-page commission report also included the controversial letter of Saritha, written on July 19, 2013 raising sexual allegations in detail against Mr Chandy and several others. It also dismisses Oommen Chandy's contention that he did not know Saritha.
The SIT that probed the solar scams was accused of extricating Mr Chandy from criminal liability and not probing into the nexus of many ministers, MLAs, government officials and police officials in the scam on the basis of call details records and other pieces of evidence. Former Congress MLAs Thampanoor Ravi and Benny Behanan were also found to have worked for saving Mr Chandy from criminal cases.
Meanwhile, there were widespread allegations that there were many contradictions in the commission report and hence the chances of any of the affected parties approaching the court against the commission report could not be ruled out.
