The Congress-led UDF Government buffeted by the solar scam came under severe firing from the Kerala High Court for its inept way of investigation into the cases.

Dissatisfied with the progress of the probe into a case relating to the solar scam, Justice V.K. Mohanan asked the prosecutor whether a probe was not required to ascertain if the cheatings were committed with the knowledge of Chief Minister Oomen Chandy.

The court made the observation when a petition filed by a Bangalore-based businessman M.K. Kuruvila, seeking a Crime Branch investigation into his complaint regarding cheating in the name of providing solar panels, came up for hearing.

The State government also drew flak from Justice S.S. Satheeschandran when a bail petition of TV actor Shalu Menon, an accused in the case, came up for hearing.

The judge orally observed that the police probe seemed lacking in coordination. The court noted that most of the cheating cases were being investigated by local police despite the constitution of a special investigation team.

The court opined that it would not hesitate to order for the presence of the SIT chief, ADGP A. Hemachandran, if the police continued the probe without coordination.

The court also asked whether the police had made any efforts to find out where the money being misappropriated in various cheating cases had been stashed away.

The judge noted that the police had filed many cheating cases in the past. However, no investigation had been conducted to trace the swindled money. The court also wanted to know where the money collected by the accused in solar panel cheating cases had gone and whether those who lost the money would get it back.

Kuruvila, a Bangalore-based planter, had complained in his petition that two persons, one of them claimed to be a relative of Chandy, as well as a member of his personal staff, had defrauded him to the tune of over Rs 1 crore by offering to install solar panels.

Though he had lodged a complaint with the Chief Minister, which was reportedly forwarded it to the State Police Chief, the police was not conducting proper investigation.

Meanwhile, in a damage controlling exercise, obviously at the behest of the UDF leaders, the Director General of Prosecution T. Asaf Ali who appeared in the bail petition held a press conference where he justified the police actions.

He said that the judge had also earlier asked similar questions about tracing the funds and giving it back to the persons who were defrauded. He said that the government proposed to bring in a new Act which would ensure recovery of the lost money.

gopakumar.kc@thehindu.co.in

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