Kerala’s Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was last year accused of trying to bury the charges leveled against him in the infamous solar scam by appointing a judicial inquiry commission allegedly with unclear terms of reference but the same panel has now decided to examine the allegations about the role of his office and personal and security staff in the scandal.
The Justice G Sivarajan Commission of Inquiry, appointed in October, 2013, has also decided to examine the allegation against Chandy’s loyalist in the Congress party and Forest and Transports Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan that he had tried to sabotage the police probe into the solar scam when he was State’s Home Minister.
Through an interim order issued after considering a batch of petitions which came before him and examining documents and reports relating to the allegations that had come up within the State Assembly and outside, the Justice Sivarajan Commission has given more clarity to its own areas of enquiry.
As per the order, the commission of inquiry would examine whether con woman Saritha S Nair and her former live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan, the accused in the solar panel fraud case, had received any assistance from the Government, Chief Minister, his office or members of his personal and security staff.
The commission would also look into the allegation that the special investigation team of the Kerala Police, which had looked into the role of Chandy’s former personal assistant Tenny Joppen, had exempted his office, former gunman Salim Raj and Thomas Kuruvila, Chandy’s unofficial personal assistant in Delhi, from its probe due to pressure.
The solar scam pertains to a series of serious financial frauds committed by Saritha and Biju Radhakrishnan with the assistance they allegedly got from the CM’s office. The duo, owners of the shady firm Team Solar Energy Solutions, had duped several people of crores of rupees by promising to install solar power plants and windmills.