The State government submitted in the Kerala High Court on Tuesday that Tenny Joppan, former personal assistant of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and an accused in the cheating case relating to solar scam, could be granted bail. However, the government opposed the bail plea of actor Shalu Menon, another accused in the scam.
The submissions were made before Justice S.S. Satheesachandran when their bail petitions came up for hearing. The court reserved its verdict on the petitions.
Advocate General K.P. Dandapani, appearing for the State government, pointed out that the investigation in the case against Joppan was almost complete and his further detention was not required for concluding the investigation. He forcefully submitted that Joppan had been in custody for 52 days. A large number of witnesses were questioned and a sizable number of documents seized during the investigation. Two compact discs, one pen drive and one mobile phone were also seized. The forensic laboratory report was yet to be received. If the court allowed Joppan’s bail plea, he could be granted bail with stringent conditions.
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Opposing the bail petition of Shalu Menon vehemently, the Advocate General submitted that the investigation was steadily progressing and if she was granted bail at this stage, it would materially affect the investigation.
He also submitted that a detailed probe was on to find out the source to which the defrauded amounts were channelised by the accused persons.
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The Advocate General pointed out that complete statements of accounts on the money transactions had been obtained and elaborate investigation was on. Every efforts were also being made to find out whether any secret accounts had been maintained by the accused persons in the solar scam. Much of the investigation at this stage was focused on the money trail. Earnest efforts were being made to carry out the investigation in an impartial and time bound manner, he said.