'Not in Cliff House on the day', clean chit for Oommen Chandy in solar scam sexual assault case

Oommen Chandy. File photo: Manorama

Thiruvananthapuram: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has given a clean chit to former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in a sexual assault case linked to the sensational solar scam that had rocked the previous United Democratic Front Government in Kerala. BJP leader AP Abdullakutty was also exonerated by the CBI in the case. The complaint was filed by a woman entrepreneur behind a planned solar power project.

The CBI has submitted a report in this regard to the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Thiruvananthapuram.

The complainant had alleged that the she was sexually assaulted by Chandy at the Cliff House, the official residence of the chief minister. However, the CBI informed the court that the former CM was not present at the Cliff House on the day the crime was alleged. The agency also added that there was discrepancies in the complainant's statements.

"Will not initiate any further proceedings against Chandy considering his age and health," the complainant said on Wednesday.

Recently, the central agency had come to the same conclusion after it conducted a probe against four other Congress leaders — Hibi Eden, KC Venugopal, AP Anil Kumar and Adoor Prakash — who had faced the same charge by the same complainant. 

The complaint was filed with the Kerala Police in 2018 and the case was handed over to the CBI later. The agency filed an FIR against the five Congress leaders and Abdullakutty based on the statement filed by the complainant. 

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