KOCHI: Saritha S Nair, the second accused in the solar scam,failed to appear before the Inquiry Commission on Tuesday.
Saritha’s counsel informed the Commission that she had to appear before the First Class Magistrate Court, Ramankari, Alappuzha, in connection with a criminal case. Saritha also informed the Commission that she would not be able to produce the controversial letter that she showed to mediapersons earlier, claiming to have been written by her in jail. She informed the Commission that the content of the letter was personal in nature, and that it did not contain any information pertaining to the financial transactions involved in the Solar scam.
Saritha’s refusal to produce the letter invited the wrath of the Commission, which observed that those who do not appear before it had something to hide.
Justice Sivarajan observed that there was pressure on Saritha not to appear before the Commission. “P Madhavan MLA, who had said that he would make revelations before the media, also did not appear before the Commission. Those who appeared before the Commission once, never appeared again,” stated the Commission. Justice Sivarajan said he was trying to submit a report before the tenure expires on April 27.
Tenny Joppan, who was a member of the Chief Minister’s personal staff, and Jail DGP Alexander Jacob will depose before the Commission on January 15, while Jikkumnon Jacob, another former member of the CM’s personal staff, will depose on January 18.
The statement of Jail IG H Gopakumar will be recorded on January 14, while that of ADGP A Hemachandran who led the investigation will be recorded on January 20. The statement of the Chief Minister’s former gunman Salim Raj will be recorded on January 22.Meanwhile, the All-India Lawyers’ Union alleged that witnesses, including government officials and prime accused Saritha, were ‘fixing’ the case. “The Commission should prepare a report on the basis of evidence. If the government and officials are not providing evidence, the Commission should prepare an interim order, instead of winding up the probe,” said Union state secretary B Rajendran.
Criticising the State Government, the Justice Sivarajan Commission on Tuesday said it would be better to disband the Commission, if there was no freedom to function.