Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that cases of sexual assault will be registered against former state chief minister Oommen Chandy and a number of other former cabinet ministers after the solar scam-accused Saritha Nair named them in her letter.
Nair, in her 2013 letter, mentioned that Chandy, along with former ministers K C Venugopal, Aryadan Mohammed, Adoor Prakash A P Anilkumar, MLAs Hibi Eden, Abdullah Kutty and MP Jose K Mani, had sexually abused her.
Furthermore, Vijayan said that if anybody sought sexual favours instead of cash, it will also be treated as a case of bribe and the vigilance committee will investigate the matter.
He had also said that a criminal case will be filed against former home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan for abetting the crime by influencing the police.
The chief minister said the decision was predicated on the findings of the commission probing the Solar Scam, and the legal opinion of Advocate General and Director General of prosecution.
Vijayan said that the commission's report stated that Chandy, directly or through his staff, took a bribe from Saritha and the Solar team.
Chandy, however, questioned the government for not publishing the report and urged it to do the same. "Independent witnesses who came before the commission didn't say anything of this nature. I am not scared of any investigation because I haven't done anything wrong," he said, adding that the Vijayan government’s current actions will backfire. A special investigation team led by north zone DGP will look into these cases.
Kochi-based solar company Team Solar Renewable Energy Solutions, floated by a couple Biju Radhakrishnan and Sarita S Nair, was accused of duping investors from whom it had collected crores of rupees for a solar power project.
The solar scam dogged the former Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government, with allegations that Saritha was able to hoodwink investors because of her proximity to the chief minister's office. Oommen Chandy’s private secretary Tenny Joppan was also arrested in connection with the case.
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