The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to initiate a criminal and vigilance investigation against former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy (pictured above), his cabinet colleagues and other party leaders in the multi-crore solar scam case, IANS reported.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that a fresh inquiry will be conducted under the anti-corruption law. He made the announcements based on recommendations submitted by the Justice Sivaraman Commission in September.
This commission was set up four years ago to investigate the allegations that Chandy and other Congress ministers took large amounts of money and sexual favours to set up a solar panel firm.
Chandy’s cabinet colleagues Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Aryadan Mohammed and former Congress legislators Thampanoor Ravi and Benny Behanan will also be investigated.
On October 7, a Bengaluru court had acquitted Chandy for lack of evidence in a private complaint, filed by an industrialist, in connection with the case. The industrialist had alleged that Chandy took money from him to allow the setting up of a solar panel firm.
Solar panel scam case
The two accused in the scam, Biju Radhakrishnan and his partner Saritha Nair, allegedly duped investors of lakhs of rupees after promising to install solar panels for them. However, once they received the money, they would disappear. They were arrested in October 2013 and sentenced to three years in jail on December 16, 2016.
In his defence, Chandy had claimed that the liquor lobby had started this as a conspiracy against him after the state decided to close down bars in Kerala.
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