86-yr-old ex-Kerala Minister faces probe on solar scam accused’s complaint

Thiruvananthapuram:The Kerala cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Wednesday decided to order a vigilance probe against 86-year-old former Congress Minister Aryadan Mohammed and sought sanction of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan.

The complainant in the case was Saritha Nair, one of the key accused in the 2014 solar scam which had rocked the then Oommen Chandy-led Congress government and led to a massive campaign by Vijayan, ending in the rout of the Congress-led UDF in the 2016 Assembly polls.

Nair’s petition accused Mohammed, the then state Electricity Minister, of misusing his official capacity and taking Rs 4 million as bribe. The issue was taken up by Vijayan and since Mohammed is a former Minister, sanction for the probe has to be obtained from the Governor.

Incidentally, this fresh case comes soon after the CBI registered cases against Chandy, Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal and and party MPs Hibi Eden, and Adoor Prakash, party state legislator A.P. Anilkumar and BJP national Vice President A.P.Abdulla Kutty on a complaint by Nair that she was sexually exploited by these leaders.

Like in the present case against Mohammed, Nair had raised a complaint with Vijayan, who handed over it to the CBI.

Nair and her then live-in partner went around selling solar schemes and collected money from several people but cheated them. After her links with a few office staffes of Chandy surfaced, it became the biggest campaign issue of the Left.

Incidentally, a few months back, Nair was jailed in another cheating case registered against her.IANS