Exonerating the late Oommen Chandy in the sexual exploitation case related to the 2013 solar scandal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in its report, has hinted at a conspiracy behind the allegation.
The CBI has questioned the authenticity of a letter written by the woman at the center of the charges, and the role of a middleman who says he acted under “pressure from CPI(M) leaders”, Indian Express reported.
Last week, a magistrate court in Thiruvananthapuram accepted the closure report filed by the CBI, which had taken over the probe in 2021.
Also Read: Oommen Chandy, KC Venugopal, others booked by CBI in case of alleged sexual abuse
On Monday, Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan sought a probe into the “conspiracy”, alleging that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was behind it. Rejecting the allegation, Vijayan said:, “Nobody hunted Chandy. You (the Opposition) know who hunted him,” IE reported.
The CBI report says the letter making sexual abuse allegations against Congress leaders, including Oommen Chandy, was presented to the agency as written by the woman, by middleman T G Nandakumar. He told the agency that “he was involved in this case only because of pressure from CPI(M) leaders”.
The report also states that three days after Pinarayi Vijayan became the chief minister in 2016, the woman had met him to submit a petition seeking a probe into the charges. “The permission for the meeting was arranged by Nandakumar,” the report states.
What is the 2013 solar scandal?
The solar scandal came to light in 2013 as a probe into charges that an alleged con woman and her associate had duped several persons promising solar solutions, by claiming links to the Chief Minister’s Office. A Congress government led by Oommen Chandy was in power at the time.
Following the allegations, three personal aides of Chandy were removed and arrested for their links with the woman.
Then in 2016, just before the Assembly elections in the state, the woman complainant claimed that she had also been sexually abused by Chandy, on September 19, 2012, at the CM’s official residence. She claimed that she had made the same allegations in a letter she wrote from jail, after her arrest in the cheating cases of 2013.
Also Read: Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy dies aged 79 in Bengaluru
In the elections, the Congress-led UDF government was voted out, and Pinarayi Vijayan became CM as the head of an LDF government.
In 2018, the woman approached the state police with the complaint against Chandy. The police found no evidence regarding the woman’s allegations against the former CM. Even the legal opinion sought by the Vijayan government was in favour of Chandy.
The woman though again approached Vijayan and, in early 2021, with months to go for that year’s Assembly elections, the LDF government handed over her fresh complaint to the CBI.
What does the CBI report states?
The CBI report submitted now says it found no direct or circumstantial evidence to establish the allegation of “unnatural sex” made by the woman against Chandy, nor any documentary evidence to prove that he had “cheated” her.
Apart from accusing Chandy of sexual abuse, the woman had alleged that the then CM and an aide had extorted Rs 1.90 crore from her to clear her firm for a contract.
The agency says it recorded the statements of several witnesses, many of them closely associated with the complainant, but none could give any evidence corroborating the allegation.