Solar scam: Chandy asks for copy of commission report from Ker

Former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy today asked the state government to give him a copy of the report of the judicial commission that probed the solar scam, which had rocked the previous Congress-led UDF government headed by him.
The government had, on October 11, ordered a vigilance probe against Chandy in connection with the multi-crore-rupee scam.
The decision was taken on the basis of the findings of the Justice G Sivarajan Commission, which had probed the scam.
The commission was appointed by the previous Chandy government after allegations surfaced about Saritha S Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan duping several people of crores of rupees by offering solar panel solutions to them.

"I request the government to provide a copy of the commission's report, based on which criminal proceedings are sought to be taken against me. The government should not deny my rights as a citizen," the Congress leader wrote in a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
He also mentioned that the government's decision not to give him a copy of the report was "unilateral" and "illogical" and sought to know about the legal opinion it received on the report of the commission.

Earlier in the day, Chandy told PTI that he was still in the dark about the findings of the commission.

He said the actual facts and findings, based on which the commission arrived at its conclusions, could only be known after he got a copy of thereport.
The Congress leader also said even though the government had come out with accusations, nobody had seen the report of the commission.
He added that if he wanted to challenge the facts and findings of the commission in court, he should first be aware of the contents of its report.
Asked whether he planned to file a defamation case against Saritha S Nair, who levelled the charges against him, Chandy said, "Only after getting to know about the facts and findings, can further steps be taken in this regard."

He added that even though he had filed a Right to Information (RTI) application, seeking a copy of the report, he also approached the chief minister as the government had made it clear that the report could be made public only after it was tabled in the Assembly.
Asked whether theCPI(M)-led LDF government's move against him was political, Chandy said all the present accusations were levelled by the current dispensation.
Besides Chandy, the Kerala government had also ordered a probe against former ministers Aryadan Mohamed and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, after lodging a case against them.
Two former Congress MLAs -- Thampanoor Ravi and Benny Benhanan -- have also been brought under the ambit of the investigation.

Announcing the probe, Vijayan had said a criminal case would be registered and a Special Investigation Team would probe the allegations of rape levelled by Saritha against some politicians in her July 17, 2013 letter.
The charge against Radhakrishnan, who was the home and vigilance minister in the Chandy cabinet, was that he had tried to protect the former chief minister and "illegally" used police officers under him to "influence" the case.
According to the commission, a vigilance case should be registered against former power minister Mohammed, as he had allegedly helped Saritha's company, 'Team Solar', illegally.
Certain ministers in the Chandy cabinet, besides some Congress MPs and MLAs, were named by Saritha in connection with the solar scam, in the letter she wrote when she was in jail.