Solar panel fraud accused led lavish life, reveals SIT report

A special investigation team (SIT) probing the solar panel fraud case on Tuesday submitted a statement in the Kerala High Court giving details of the money collected and spent by the two prime accused in the case.

According to the statement, the accused—Sarita S Nair and her former partner Biju Radhakrishnan—have spent around Rs 5.5 crore of the Rs 6 crore they collected through the fraud. Biju Radhakrishnan is learnt to have given television actress Shalu Menon Rs 1.2 crore to construct a house. Police had detained the actress during the initial stages of the investigation to probe alleged links she had with the accused.

Biju and Sarita had duped people by promising them solar panel units apart from offering investors stakes in solar and wind energy projects implemented by their fraudulent company, Team Solar. The SIT statement said Sarita spent around Rs 13 lakh on her clothes.

She had spent about Rs 20 lakh on domestic expenses over a period of three years. Close to Rs 20 lakh was spent on movie stars who made appearances at the company’s promotional events and about Rs 25 lakh on media advertisements for the company’s
products.
The accused also spent lakhs of rupees on leisure trips and stay in high-end hotels.

Reports said the accused conducted financial transactions of more than Rs 5.5 crore through 16 bank accounts. Now, the accounts together have only about Rs 96,000. The High Court on Thursday sought details of cases filed in connection with the fraud along with the source of money with which the accused settled cases with complainants and obtained bail in most of the other cases. The SIT has submitted the statement in response to the HC observations, also asserting that the accused had not used money collected through the fraud to settle cases or obtain bail.

As part of the investigation into fraud involving about Rs six crore, 33 cases were originally filed against the accused. On Tuesday, Sarita received bail in two more cases.