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.
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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.
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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.