The Special Investigating Team probing the solar scam cases informed the Kerala High Court on Friday that the prime accused Sarita S.Nair and her partner Biju Radhakrishnan had confessed to the police about the involvement of the suspended Director of Information and Public Relations Department A. Firoz in one of the cheating cases.
The submission was made when an anticipatory bail plea of Firoz came up for hearing before Justice S.S.Satheeschandran. Firoz was the third accused in a cheating case registered by the Thiruvananthapuram medical college police in 2009.The police said the petitioner had given “his oral and physical support” to the other accused for obtaining illegal gain.
However, the petitioner “has not been put in the clutches of law till now”. While he was working as the Director of Information and PRD, his involvement in the crime was reported to the government by the investigating officer on November, 2010. But, no reply had been received from the government. Therefore, the arrest of the petitioner could not be made at that time
Firoz played a key role in the case and if he was granted bail, it would affect the investigation.
The charge against the petitioner was that he had introduced Biju and Sarita as senior strategic advisor to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and chartered accountant respectively to Salim M. Kabir, managing director of a building firm. Firoz promised him to arrange a loan. The accused also told the police that Biju had got acquainted with Firoz at Kerala House, New Delhi, when the latter was working at the Public Relations Office there.
The petitioner had introduced several people to Biju and Sarita with the intention of cheating by guaranteeing them bank loans.
Firoz had demanded a commission for introducing people and the accused had given Rs 5 lakh to him from the amount misappropriated from Salim, gifted two gild rings to his wife and also a car.
The investigation revealed that that Firoz used to frequently contact the accused over the mobile phone, and sent SMS and emails regarding the deals. There were eye witnesses to prove his nexus with Biju and Sarita and their frequent meetings in Thiruvananthapuram.
The judge adjourned till July 16 the hearing on the anticipatory bail petition.
