The ‘solar scam’ appears to be taking its toll at different levels with the Kerala government suspending its Information and Public Relations Director A. Firoz from service for suspected complicity in the scam and the State Police Chief ordering an inquiry into the alleged receipt of a hefty donation by the Kerala Police Association from the tainted business duo.
Information and Public Relations Minister said in a statement here on Wednesday that Mr. Firoz was being suspended from service based on a report submitted by the Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner way back on November 25, 2010. The commissioner had submitted his report after an investigation in a case registered by the Medical College police in the city. The government has also decided to conduct an inquiry into the reasons for the delay in taking action against Mr. Firoz based on the commissioner’s report, Mr. Joseph said.
Mr. Firoz has denied the allegation and said that he is a victim rather than an perpetrator of the scam. He has also moved the District Principal Sessions Court here for anticipatory bail.
The State Police Chief (Director General of Police K.S. Balasubramanian) ordered the departmental inquiry against the office-bearers of the Kerala Police Association based on a complaint submitted to him by a section of the association members. They had accused the association leadership of having accepted Rs.40 lakh as donation from Saritha S. Nair, who is currently in police custody in connection with the scam. The leadership, the complainants said, had taken the money and published an advertisement in a souvenir brought out in connection with an association State conference. The association leaders had, at a news conference here on Tuesday, denied the allegation.
The day also saw Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan putting a question mark over former Forest Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar’s claim that he had got Team Solar, the company run by the Biju Radhakrishnan-Saritha Nair duo, install a solar unit at his house paying Rs.65,000 by cheque. Team Solar, he and his father R. Balakrishna Pillai claimed at a news conference on Sunday, had received Central and State subsidy for the work executed by them. However, at a news conference here, the Minister said that Team Solar did not figure in the list of firms accredited by the Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT). Biju Radhakrishnan had, in his interactions with TV channels before his arrest, raised serious allegations against Mr. Ganesh Kumar as well.
