A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday asked the State government to inform the court whether the details of the calls made by the accused in the solar scam cases had been collected by the investigation team.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A. M. Shaffique made the oral observation when a petition filed by Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan seeking a CBI probe into the cases came up for hearing.
When the court asked whether the police had recorded the conversation of the accused made over phone, Advocate General K. P. Dandapani submitted that all materials in connection with the case had been seized. The court then said that if the police had collected the material, all such details must have been discussed in the final report.
The Advocate General submitted that the petitioner had no locus standi to file the petition as he had not been cheated by the accused. Besides, a petition seeking a similar plea had earlier been dismissed.
Counsel for Mr. Achuthanandan pointed that the solar company which was run by accused Saritha S. Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan had not been arraigned as an accused in the case. In fact, the affairs of the company should be probed.
In his petition, Mr. Achuthanandan said that prima facie offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating and abuse of official position under the Indian Penal Code and section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act had been made out.
However, the police had not investigated the corruption charges. Despite ample evidence in the form of call details and other materials, the police had not investigated the nexus between the already booked accused and highly influential people involved in the case.
The police was yet to trace the money swindled by the accused.
The petitioner said that he was genuinely interested in ensuring that the investigation of the case was taken to the logical conclusion by a comprehensive, fair, and impartial investigation.
The Bench adjourned to June 3 the hearing on the petition.
Bar licences
The Bench also asked the State government to furnish the details of the hotels whose bar licences had been renewed.
The court sought the details when a writ petition filed by the Kerala Catholic Bishop Council Madya Virudha Samithi came up for hearing. The petitioner sought a directive to the State government to implement strictly its earlier order not to provide new bar licence for hotels. It pointed out that even after the order, many hotels were still selling liquor.
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