THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The complainant in the Solar sex scandal involving Congress veteran Oommen Chandy has requested the CBI to expand its probe to “10 more persons” as the central agency scanned the chief minister’s official residence in Thiruvananthapuram. In what was said to be the first-ever crime investigation inspection at Cliff House, two CBI teams led by Inspector Nibul Sankar, along with the woman complainant, arrived on the premises by about 10am and left by 4pm after gathering evidence “in detail”.
Sources said the CBI had taken permission from the general administration department for the evidence collection exercise at a time when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family were away in the US for his medical treatment. After the inspection, CBI officers recorded statements of the complainant, who was the kingpin of the infamous solar panel scam. As per the sex scandal case, Chandy had allegedly called her to Cliff House for a discussion on September 19, 2012, when he was chief minister, and sexually exploited her. Initially, the case was probed by the state’s crime branch, which handed over the case to the CBI last year.
On Sunday, too, the CBI conducted evidence collection at the Mascot hotel in Thiruvananthapuram as part of the probe against former Congress leader and current BJP national vice-president A P Abdullakutty, who was also accused of sexually exploiting the complainant. Last month, the central agency inspected the MLA hostel in Thiruvananthapuram. Officers gathered evidence from the Nila block’s rooms 33 and 34, where Congress MP Hibi Eden stayed as a legislator.