Thiruvananthapuram: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report exonerating former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in a solar-scam related sleaze case reportedly points to the role of a few people, including a politician, in conspiring to trap and defame Congress leaders.
The report giving clean-chit to Chandy was accepted by the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate a week ago. It was submitted by the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the CBI. As per the case Chandy sexually abused the primary accused in the sensational solar scam that jolted the United Democratic Front Government led by Chandy a decade ago.
The report, which bears the statements recorded by the CBI, has references to former Minister K B Ganesh Kumar and his relative Saranya Manoj, as well as the dealings by a controversial middleman about whom little has been known till now.
The woman complainant had drafted four more letters in addition to the original one in a bid to implicate political leaders in the case, states the report.
The complainant's driver, who is the prime witness in the case, deposed to the CBI, affirming that the controversial intermediary had facilitated her meeting with CPM leader Pinarayi Vijayan a mere three days after he took over as the Chief Minister in 2021.
The first letter written by the complainant while she was in jail did not contain Oommen Chandy’s name nor any references to him. The CBI has found that the name was interpolated into the letter later.
The statement given to the CBI also says that when the complainant was in jail in connection with another case, Ganesh Kumar had sent an aide to take possession of the letter. This is mentioned also in the statement given by Saranya Manoj.
The CBI statement obtained from Saranya Manoj says that the middleman, who made an entry at this stage, was given two of the letters. It is this intermediary who helped the complainant to pursue the case further. The intention was to take the complainant to the Chief Minister and get the case transferred to the CBI before the 2021 Assembly elections.
The CBI could not gather any evidence to back the claim by the complainant that she was sexually abused in the Cliff House, the Chief Minister’s residence.
The report also says that the complainant had urged politician P C George to act as a witness in the sexual abuse case. But, in his statement given to the CBI, George denied having witnessed the alleged sexual abuse.
