CBI gives clean chit to Oommen Chandy in sexual exploitation case

Thiruvananthapuram: A report filed by CBI in the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court here gave clean chit to former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the sexual exploitation charges leveled by the accused in solar scam.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted the referral report in the court here on Tuesday, sources said.

Last year, the CBI had taken over the investigation into cases against Chandy, former Union minister K C Venugopal and other politicians related to allegations of sexual exploitation by the accused woman.

The cases against the six persons, including Chandy, were registered over the last few years and investigated by the Crime Branch of the Kerala Police based on a complaint by the woman, an accused in the multi-crore solar panel scam during the UDF government, that she was sexually exploited by them in 2012.

The CPI(M)-led Kerala government had recommended a CBI inquiry into the cases in early 2021.

The opposition Congress had dubbed the move as "politically motivated", saying the LDF government could not find anything against the party leaders and took the decision as elections were around the corner.

Sources said that the CBI probe has found that there was no basis for the woman's allegation against Chandy as there was no evidence to prove that she had gone to the official residence of then Chief Minister on that particular day.

The CBI has also found that it was a fabricated case, the sources further said.

In a letter to the police commissioner on July 19, 2013, the woman had levelled charges of sexual misconduct and corruption against several Congress and UDF leaders, including Chandy, some of his ministers and two former Union ministers.

PTI with minor edits