No materials to show CM had given assurance to Sreedharan Nair

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court today held that there are no materials before it to show that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had given any assurance to Sreedharan Nair about the credentials of Team Solar, the company floated by accused Saritha S Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan, and encouraged him to do business with the company.

The observation was made by Justice Harun-Ul-Rashid while dismissing a petition by one Joy Kaitharath seeking a direction to the government to verify the computer hard discs and servers of CCTV cameras and web cameras in the secretariat and offices of the Chief minister and retrieve the entire data.

"There are no materials before this court to show that there is assurance on the part of Chief Minister about the credentials of Team Solar and that he encouraged the complainant to do business with Saritha Nair."

Even assuming for a moment that he gave assurance and encouraged complainant Sreedharan Nair to do business with Saritha, the same would not amount to any criminal act attracting Section 420 (cheating) read with 34 of IPC, the court held.

Sreedharan Nair in his complaint alleged that he had met Chief Minister along with Saritha Nair on July 9, 2012.

Verification of the facts would show that Sreedharan Nair who had given a 164 Crpc statement that he had met the Chief Minister along with Saritha Nair on July 9, 2012 was not true and hence need not be probed, Justice Rashid held.

Annexure II complaint statement and affidavit filed by Sreedharan Nair does not disclose any role played by the Chief Minister, the court pointed out.

The court held that the investigation team is free to investigate the case in accordance with law. They have the freedom to seize any relevant articles, equipment and question any person for conducting proper and fair investigation.

Sreedharan Nair, owner of Mallelil industries, had complained that Saritha had taken him to meet Chief Minister in his office after which he had given about Rs 40 lakh for setting up a solar plant at Kinfra Park in Palakkad.