Police face a disquietingtask of probing themselves

A SIT has to register criminal cases against a set of ranking officers

October 11, 2017 08:38 pm | Updated 08:38 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

The State police were on Wednesday confronted with the somewhat disquieting task of investigating themselves in connection with the solar panel investment fraud that rocked the United Democratic Front (UDF) government in 2013.

A special investigation team (SIT) under DGP Rajesh Dewan is now poised to register criminal cases against a whole set of ranking and middle-level officers who steered the solar scam probe under the Oommen Chandy government.

The SIT, headed by ADGP A. Hemachandran, had drawn flak from the G. Sivarajan Commission for its “devious attempts” to save a galaxy of influential persons from prosecution.

The Commission said the solar case team had wilfully disregarded call data records and other incriminating evidence against several UDF ministers, legislators, police officers, and MPs.

IG K. Padmakumar and Dy.SP K. Harikrishnan are the other officers caught in the vortex of the commission’s politically stormy findings. The government has accepted the commission's recommendation to book them on the charge of destruction of evidence. It has also brought Mr. Hemachandran under the ambit of the probe.

The police also faced the onerous task of registering criminal cases against an assemblage of UDF politicians, notably Thampanoor Ravi and Benny Behanan.

The State police have also geared themselves up to investigate the sexual allegations opened by solar case accused Saritha S. Nair in a letter she penned at the Perumbavoor police station following her arrest in July 2013.

The letter puts a whole gamut of politicians and law enforcers under a cloud of suspicion. They are likely to face charges of rape, sexual exploitation, and outraging the modesty of women.

Mr. Dewan’s investigation will dovetail with a parallel investigation by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) into Saritha’s damning letter. The government has received the legal opinion that seeking sexual favours could be considered as a bribe under Section 7 of the PC Act.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.