Kottayam: The sensational solar scam which rocked Kerala politics a decade ago is back in the news — this time it is the judicial commission which probed the high-profile case on the defensive for its conduct rather than the accused.
Kerala's Former Director General of Police (DGP) A Hemachandran has raised critical allegations against Justice G Sivarajan, who had headed the judicial commission appointed to investigate the scam.
According to Hemachandran, Sivarajan was more interested in extracting lewd details from the accused in the case and was indulging in ‘moral policing’ during the commission’s procedures.
The former police officer’s revelations are included in his service story titled ‘Neethi Evide?’ (Where is justice?) to be published soon by DC Books. Hemachandran has explained in detail his experiences while deposing before the Sivarajan Commission in the chapter ‘Solar Commission – alpayussaya reportum thudarchalanangalum’ (Solar Commission – a short-lived report and its repercussions).
'The Solar Commission’s terms of reference were the fraud involved and related matters. However, the panel did not investigate the fraudsters behind the scam or their victims. Instead, the commission spent all its efforts and time to unrelated matters, especially the personal lives of the accused and their alleged sexual affairs with various people,' the former DGP suggests.
“From the beginning, the questions posed by the panel to those who appeared before it was an intrusion into their privacy. One officer was even asked whether he had checked the paternity of a child,” says Hemachandran in his memoirs.
Moreover, many of the jokes cracked by the commission during the procedures were cringeworthy, adds the former top cop. The police officers who appeared before the commission filed a complaint with state police chief over the actions of the commission.
Hemachandran cites an incident where the panel’s advocate travelled to Coimbatore along with an accused to recover a CD allegedly containing pornographic content. When this effort turned futile, the commission, in its report, blamed the media and the police for the fiasco, rather than mention the fact that the accused had taken the panel for a ride.
“The Censor Board often deletes pornographic content in a movie. Consider that a three-hour movie is reduced to 30 minutes after censorship. Similar was the case of the Solar panel’s report after the High Court examined it,” says Hemachandran.
Recently, CPI leader C Divakaran had revealed that the Justice Sivarajan Commission had filed its report against former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy after collecting a fee of Rs 5 crore.
Ex-Home Minister's response
Meanwhile, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who was the Home Minister in the Congress-led Oommen Chandy government when the judicial panel was appointed, said that he was not in favour of entrusting Justice Sivarajan with the task.
“The decision to appoint the commission was taken at the Cabinet meeting. However, it would not be proper for me to reveal the stand taken by various ministers at the Cabinet and it will remain a secret,” he said.
“The latest revelations by Hemachandran are true. But, they have come out in the public sphere only after 10 years,” said Thiruvanchoor.
The infamous solar scam involves the alleged swindling by a company after soliciting investors for developing solar power plants. The Kerala chief minister's office was dragged into the controversy as it was blamed for introducing promoters to the investors. A slew of sexual misconduct cases too were filed after the promoter blamed politicians for violating her.
