The demise of former Kerala Chief Minister, the late Oommen Chandy, coincides with the closure of a sensational case that had cast a shadow over his legacy. The Chief Judicial Magistrate recently accepted the report from the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), effectively exonerating Oommen Chandy in the highly publicized solar scam case, where he was accused of sexually abusing the primary complainant.
This significant development came after the court diligently reviewed the arguments presented by the complainant. The CBI’s investigation had previously failed to find any concrete evidence supporting the allegations against Oommen Chandy.
Notably, the court had also earlier cleared AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and Adoor Prakash, MP, of similar charges due to a lack of supporting evidence. The complainant’s subsequent attempt to challenge the CBI’s report met with rejection from the court.
The initial accusation against Oommen Chandy claimed that he had sexually abused the complainant at the official residence of the Chief Minister, Cliff House, on September 19, 2012. However, a Crime Branch report contradicted this narrative, stating that Oommen Chandy was not present at Cliff House on the alleged date. Consequently, the complainant sought a CBI inquiry by writing to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The case was eventually transferred to the CBI in January 2021. Besides Oommen Chandy, other politicians faced separate accusations related to similar charges, including Adoor Prakash, Hibi Eden, A P Anilkumar, and A P Abdullakutty.
It is worth noting that Oommen Chandy’s passing on July 18 marked the end of a tumultuous chapter that had cast a shadow over his government a decade ago, as the solar scam scandal had gripped the state.
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