Opposition Leader in the Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan on Thursday sought a CBI probe into the alleged criminal conspiracy to implicate former chief minister Oommen Chandy in the sexual harassment case connected to the solar case
Speaking to media persons here, Satheesan said the chief minister is the first accused in the criminal conspiracy hatched to implicate Oommen Chandy in the sexual harassment case.
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He said the matter should not be investigated by the state police and if the CBI does not investigate, legal recourse should be sought.
“How can the police, under the incumbent chief minister, probe the case in which he (the CM) could be the main accused,” asked Satheesan.
He alleged that middle-man Nandakumar is an aide of the LDF Government and added that VS Achuthanandan’s name was brought into the issue in order to save Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Nandakumar on Wednesday said that it was former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan who requested for a letter implicating former Chandy in the scandal.
In this connection, Puthuppally MLA and Oommen Chandy’s son Chandy Oommen said there should be no investigation in the case related to the conspiracy against Oommen Chandy in the solar sexual assault case. Oommen said he would not approach the court for an investigation and that his policy towards those who harmed his father is one of reconciliation.
In this connection, KPCC president K Sudhakaran has, on Thursday, said there was no difference of opinion in the Congress regarding probe on the conspiracy in the solar sexual harassment case. He pointed out that the CBI has found that there is a conspiracy in the solar sexual harassment case and the CBI has the responsibility to investigate the conspiracy.
Former minister and Left front MLA KB Ganesh Kumar’s role in the conspiracy should also be probed, he said.
The CBI, which probed the sexual harassment case, reportedly found that there was an intricate plot aimed at implicating Oommen Chandy in the case. In the report it submitted to the court the other day giving clean-chit to the former Kerala chief minister in the case, reportedly stated that a ruling front MLA and his aide conspired to name the senior Congress leader in the case.
The CBI pointed out that the complainant woman’s letter initially didn’t contain Chandy’s name. It was interpolated into the letter later.
In this connection, middleman Nandakumar on Wednesday said he had discussions with Pinarayi Vijayan, who was party secretary at the time, regarding the controversial letter in the context of the 2016 elections. It was former chief minister VS Achuthanandan who requested for a letter implicating Chandy in the solar sex scandal.
“VS Achuthanandan asked to investigate the letter written by solar complainant in February 2016. Based on that, I contacted Sharanya Manoj, who claimed to possess around a dozen letters written by the complainant. I handed these letters to V.S. Achuthanandan. He subsequently discussed this matter with the then party secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan,” Nandakumarsaid.
Nandakumar further said that he had briefed Vijayan on the details of the letter on two occasions and had met him approximately four or five times during that period. However, he clarified that he had not seen him after he became chief minister. .
He said his intervention in the solar case aided the LDF’s return to power in the state. The release of the letter written by the solar case complainant against Chandy helped him resolve differences with Pinarayi Vijayan.
Nandakumar also revealed that Oommen Chandy was targeting him through CBI investigations and that was the reason why he disclosed the complainant’s letter, purportedly with the knowledge of V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan.
Meanwhile, the complainant woman’s former lawyer, Feni Balakrishnan, too said that Chandy’s name was not in the first draft of the petition and was later added at the instance of Sharanya Manoj, a relative of Ganesh Kumar MLA.