First and foremost has been the decision of the Leader of the Opposition, V S Achuthanandan, to move the Kerala High Court, challenging the ongoing police investigation into the scam. The police probe won’t uncover the truth as it is bent upon protecting influential and prominent ruling coalition leaders involved in the scam. Hence the need for a court-monitored investigation, VS has pointed out. Significantly, the VS move has the full support of the State CPI(M), which is spearheading a day-and-night LDF agitation at the state government’s secretariat in the Kerala capital.

That the VS decision has rattled the UDF Government is clear from the fact that a worried Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan had a hurried meeting with the Attorney General as soon as the news about the Achuthanandan move came. A High Court monitored probe is necessary also because the Government has been straining every nerve to make it only an economic offences case, VS claimed.

The Opposition received another shot in the arm with the Chief Justice of the High Court giving the green signal for an inquiry against additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) at the economic offences court in Kochi, who did not record the statement of solar scam accused, Saritha Nair, despite her request.

The HC decision came in response to a petition filed by Kerala BJP general secretary K Surendran, seeking an inquiry by the vigilance wing of the High Court. According to the complaint, the ACJM had failed to record Saritha’s statement on July 20 when she wanted to give it. The ACJM seemed to have come under the pressure of people trying to prevent the accused from coming out with the names of influential and prominent leaders who may be involved in the crime, the complaint said.

A complaint of similar nature has been filed against the ACJM by Indian Lawyers Association secretary Advocate Jaishankar, who has demanded that the ACJM who had failed to discharge his duty should be punished, if found guilty. Jaishankar’s petition alleges that the ACJM, who had met Saritha in the presence of only her advocate and the court clerk, that he had recorded the statement but had destroyed it later!

The complaints have vindicated the Opposition’s allegation that the ACJM’s failure to record the statement on July 20 itself had helped influential people to scuttle Saritha’s statement. Both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the BJP have alleged that the ACJM’s strange decision had resulted in Saritha being sent back to police custody. There she was pressured into changing her original 22-page statement handed over to her advocate Fenny Balakrishnan, in which she had mentioned the names of prominent Congress leaders.

The watered down four-page statement which she ultimately handed over to the court did not contain any names. It only said there was a threat to her life from the prime accused in the case Biju Radhakrishnan and another accused, Shalu Menon and that she should be given protection. The Opposition’s charge is that a lot had happened between July 20 when Saritha wanted to record her statement and July 29 when she gave the four-page statement. The original 22-page statement was destroyed by Saritha’s advocate on her request, according to reports appearing in various newspapers.

It may be mentioned that Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan had made a sensational disclosure at a press conference Saritha’s advocate had told him that the original statement contained the names of Union Minister of State for power K C Venugopal, Congress MLA Hibi Eden and several other state ministers and MLAs.

Significantly, only the Union Minister has thought it necessary to file a defamation suit against the SNDP general secretary. No Congress leader, including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala, has cared to challenge Natesan’s disclosures. The reason is not difficult to divine: the Congress party do not want to lose the sizable Ezhava vote bank at the command of the powerful SNDP general secretary.

Incidentally, VS has also accused a few MLAs and leaders close to Oommen Chandy of trying to influence Saritha’s advocate against divulging the names of the prominent ruling party leaders with a massive bribe running into crores.

Needless to say, these developments have deepened the panic in the UDF camp. Conversely, the Opposition LDF and BJP, buoyed up by the happenings, have decided to intensify the agitation seeking Oommen Chandy’s resignation and a judicial inquiry into the solar scam. (IPA Service)