CM justifies CBI probe into rape charges

Allegations raised by solar case suspect against Congress leaders

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said legal propriety and not political vendetta had prompted the government to second the plea for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the allegations of rape raised against a set of top Congress leaders by the woman named as a suspect in the 2015 solar investment fraud case.

When pressed whether he had attempted to exact revenge on the Congress for referring the SNC-Lavalin case to the CBI in 2016, Mr. Vijayan said the cases were starkly different.

The Vigilance had found no wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin case. However, the Oommen Chandy government had rejected the report. It removed the Vigilance Director from his post and transferred the case to the CBI. The political intent was clear.

Panel observations

The case against Mr. Chandy and others have their provenance in a damning observation by the judicial commission appointed by the previous Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government to probe the solar scam, Mr. Vijayan said.

The woman had narrated her exploitation at the hands of Congress leaders to the commission. The accused had promised State-support for her foray into the then nascent solar and wind energy sector.

The commission recommended that the police probe those persons named by the woman as her sexual exploiters. It concluded that demanding and accepting sexual favours for official patronage tantamount to illegal gratification under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Ciriminal inquiry

Mr. Vijayan said the police could not take cognisance of an offence based on the commission’s findings. Hence, the government set in motion a criminal inquiry. It stood on the side of the survivor.

The government neither shadowed the investigation nor attempted to influence or expedite it. The inquiry proceeded efficiently and its own pace for nearly three years, he said.

Recently, the survivor felt that the Crime Branch probe lacked progress. She sought a CBI inquiry. The government had no legal recourse but to accept her plea. It did not want to open itself to criticism that the administration was apathetic to rape victims, he said.

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