The Kerala High Court on Monday orally sought material to prove that Sreedharan Nair, a complainant in a solar scam-related cheating case, had stated that he had met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy along with the scam accused Saritha S. Nair at the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
Justice Harul-Ul-Rashid, during the hearing of a petition related to the solar scam, asked counsel for the petitioner as to what was wrong if the allegation that Mr. Nair had met the Chief Minister was true.
The court made the oral observations when a writ petition filed by Joy Kaitharath of Thrissur, seeking a directive to seize the computer hard disks and servers of the CCTV cameras installed at the Secretariat and CMO, came up for hearing.
The court asked the counsel whether the petitioner was using the case for any political motives. The court pointed out that the complainant had not stated in his complaint that he had met the Chief Minister. When the counsel submitted that Mr. Nair had made such a remark in a statement reordered under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the court asked the counsel to show the material and prove the allegation.
Advocate General K.P. Dandapani submitted that the court first consider the issue of maintainability and locus standi of the petitioner before going into the merit of the case. The attempt of the petitioner was to conduct a parallel investigation.
Affidavit
Meanwhile, in an affidavit filed in the court, Mr. Nair termed incorrect a statement filed by Additional Director General of Police, South Zone, and Special Investigation Team chief A. Hemachandran that he had made a statement before the investigation officer that he did not think that the Chief Minister had a role in the matter.
Mr. Nair said that he was questioned in the presence of his lawyer on August 4 and he did not give any such statement. Mr. Nair also said that he had refused his consent as sought by the investigation officer to undergo the polygraph test and narco-analysis test. He had been given a copy of the statement allegedly recorded from him. He said the statement was a fabricated one.
Mr. Nair submitted that the investigation in the case was not proceeding in a proper and fair manner. He pointed out that the SIT had filed a wrong and misleading statement.
The court adjourned the hearing in the case to September 25.
