THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With only months left for the Assembly elections, the state government has decided to hand over the sensational Solar scam to the CBI.
The move entails strong political undertones as senior Congress leaders, including the potential Chief Minister candidate Oommen Chandy and other state leaders such as KC Venugopal, A P Anilkumar MLA, MPs Adoor Prakash and Hibi Eden and BJP national vice-president A P Abdulla Kutty stand accused in the case that pertained to alleged sexual exploitation of a woman entrepreneur.
The special police have been probing these six cases separately, but the government decided to hand over the case to the central agency as per the request of the complainant.
The complainant had alleged that she was subjected to sexual abuse by the accused when she visited them to apprise them of the solar projects. The abuse mostly happened at the official residences of the ministers, MLA hostels and hotel rooms. Following allegations against former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and others, the police had registered cases against them in 2018.
Thereafter the Crime Branch was asked to probe the allegations, but the investigation did not proceed much. However, the CBI emerged into the picture after the complainant approached Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently seeking a probe by the central agency.
The move to hand over the case hogs limelight as AICC has handpicked Oommen Chandy and KC Venugopal to spearhead the Assembly election campaign.
It will be interesting to see what stand the central government will be taking on the request for CBI probe in a case where one of the accused is a key BJP leader.