The Chief Judicial Magistrate  Court, Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday accepted the report submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), giving a clean chit to former Kerala chief minister late Oommen Chandy in the sexual exploitation case related to the sensational solar scandal that had rocked the previous Congress-led UDF government in 2013.

The interlocutory plea of the complainant that the report should not be accepted was also rejected by the court

Advertisement

The CBI submitted its report before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court Thiruvananthapuram in last December. The CBI sleuths informed the CJM court that there was no evidence to prove the charges leveled against Oommen Chandy.

The report said the chief minister was not present at Cliff House (the official residence of the Chief Minister) on the day of the crime, as alleged by the complainant. The report added that there were discrepancies in the complainant’s statements.

BJP National vice-president AP Abdullakutty, another of the accused, has also been given a clean chit. With this, the CBI has found all accused innocent in the case registered in 2013.

The CBI had earlier given a clean chit to other Congress leaders, such as AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, Hybi Edem MP, Adoor Prakash, MP, and former minister AP Anil Kumar on similar allegations of the woman.

The complainant woman, who was earlier arraigned in a slew of cheating cases, had leveled rape and sexual harassment complaints against Oommen Chandy, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, former minister A P Anil Kumar, Congress MPs Hibi Eden,Adoor Prakash, and BJP national vice-president A P Abdullakutty, then a Congress leader.

In the last two Assembly elections, the CPI-M has successfully used the solar controversy, which played a vital role in ending the UDF’s continued rule. The CPI-M used the Solar case at regular intervals to hound the Congress despite knowing that there was nothing significant in the case. With this, the nine-year-long Kerala Police, Crime Branch and CBI investigations are coming to an end.