Chandy made witness in Solar scam judicial probe

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, a few of his cabinet colleagues and two party MPs figure in the list of witnesses in the ongoing Solar scam judicial probe. The list was made public Wednesday.

The scam is being probed by the one-man commission of Justice (Retd.) G. Sivarajan appointed by the Kerala government.

The list of witnesses includes 48 people and knowledgeable sources say the list could be even longer.

Chandy's office was at the centre of the solar scam in which three of his staffers were linked to Saritha Nair, one of the key accused in the scandal.

Nair, along with her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan, is accused of cheating many investors promising to supply them solar panels worth millions of rupees.

While Nair is out on bail, Radhakrishnan is yet to get bail.

The commission will first record statements of the accused and all those who were in touch with Nair. The police officials investigating the case will also be asked to appear before the commission.

Statements from the top political leaders will be taken at the last.

The Rs.7 crore scam had at one point rocked the Chandy government after it was found out that three of his staff members maintained links with Nair.

All of them were booted out and despite a massive campaign by the Left opposition, Chandy managed to cling on.

Chandy, however has maintained that he has done no wrong and despite the Left opposition making this as a main plank of their campaign for the recent Lok Sabha polls, Chandy managed to win 12 of the 20 seats for the Congress.

To make the probe credible, the state government included in the terms of reference all statements made by the opposition inside and outside the assembly.