The Supreme Court, on Monday, declined to interfere with a Kerala High Court order giving a clean chit to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the solar scam case.
A Bench comprising Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh, dismissing a special leave petition filed by Joy Katharath against the High Court order, however, said the investigation ordered by the State government should proceed uninfluenced by the clean chit. The Bench made it clear to Mr. Chandy that there should be no interference in the investigation.
Referring to the High Court’s findings that no useful purpose would be served by granting the prayer sought for, the appellant said, “This finding represents unwarranted judicial intervention under Section 482 [of the] Cr.P.C. [Criminal Procedure Code] in the due course of investigation undertaken by the investigating agency and is improper and irregular.”
He alleged that the staff of the Chief Minister’s Office had connived with the accused. “In the backdrop of the supervening intention of the accused persons to cheat the complainant at all material times, it had become eminently fit for the purposes of a fair and thorough investigation to immediately retrieve and decode the entire data contained in the computer hard discs and servers supporting the CCTV cameras and Web cameras in the Secretariat and office of the Chief Minister which is admittedly in the possession of the investigating agency and thereby, to verify the allegations,” he said.
