Solar heat is back on Chandy; fresh probe ordered

The solar scam returned to haunt the Congress party in Kerala on Wednesday after the CPM-led state government ordered a Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) investigation against former chief minister Oommen Chandy.

Investigation by the VACB and a newly constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) will also be initiated against former ministers and Congress veterans Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and Aryadan Mohammed.

The Congress hit back by alleging “political motives” behind the probe, announced while polling of votes was on for the Vengara by-election.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced the investigations here, two weeks after the Justice G Sivarajan Commission, which investigated the scam, submitted its findings.

The solar scam pertains to charges that the two prime accused – Biju Radhakrishnan and his former partner Saritha S Nair – cheated investors, luring them into non-existent solar energy projects citing contacts in the office of the then chief minister Oommen Chandy. The scam hit headlines after the duo’s arrest in mid-2013. Vijayan said the state government, acting on the commission’s findings, would register a vigilance case against Chandy for having accepted bribes “directly and through others”.