June deadline set for evidence collection

KOCHI: The Justice G Sivarajan Commission probing the Solar scam case has set June last week as deadline for completing collection of evidence, and to initiate the other procedures, including hearing of arguments and preparation of the report.

With the term of the Commission slated to end on October 5, Justice Sivarajan is planning to complete the probe and file report to the government before that.   The Commission at its sitting on Monday orally observed that evidence collection would be completed by June-end. The Commission, which has prepared a schedule for examination of witnesses in the coming days, said it was not interested in delaying the probe further. The Commission also directed key witnesses, including Saritha S Nair, to appear before the deadline.

The Solar Commission has so far examined around 180 witnesses, while around 25 witnesses are yet to be examined. It received 523 documents from various witnesses.

‘Last chance’ for Saritha

Kochi: The Solar panel  gave a last chance to key accused Saritha S Nair to appear before it, after she repeatedly failed to comply with the summons. The panel, which was about to issue a non-bailable arrest warrant, considered a request by her counsel and posted the hearing to June 6 for Saritha to prove authenticity of the documents and sex tapes she had submitted prior to the Assembly election.