The solar panel scam has got murkier with Government Chief Whip P.C. George coming out with a list, purportedly maintained by Sarita S. Nair, containing the names of those who had given money to the accused.
Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, on his part, refused to accept this as a valid document.
Mr. George said that he has in his possession a list, believed to be kept by Sarita, which has 54 names, including that of a KPCC functionary.
Mr. George said the present investigation was not going in the right direction. “The team should actually probe the money involved in the scam and attempt to track it down.
My estimate is that the scam would be around Rs.15 crore. Even this is just a rough estimate, as a lot many have not complained,” Mr. George told The Hindu over the phone.
Reacting to this, Mr. Radhakrishnan said that all the new lists coming up seemed to be fake.
“There are many discrepancies and factual errors in these lists. For example, one of these new lists said that Sreedharan Nair gave Rs. 30 lakh, whereas he has gone on record that he paid Rs. 40 lakh to the accused,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said.
Reiterating his faith in the present Special Investigation Team led by A. Hemachandran, Additional Director General of Police, South Zone, Mr. Radhakrishnan said the fact that more complaints were coming proved that the investigation was progressing in the right direction.
“Right now, the SIT is probing 31 cases, out of which 14 were originally registered during the period of LDF government. No action was taken then on these cases registered for cheating. We expect the number of cases to increase as more and more persons are coming forward with complaints,” he said.
Mr. Radhakrishnan refuted allegations that there was laxity on the part of the State police in tracking down suspects in the case.
“The police have done everything to arrest Firoz (former director of the Public Relations Department). Look-out notice has been issued, his house was raided twice so far and steps have been initiated to freeze his bank accounts,” he said.
