The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the allegations by a woman, widely perceived as the victim of a sex-for-political patronage racket during the previous Oommen Chandy government, appeared to gather pace on Tuesday.
The agency conducted almost simultaneous inspections at the MLA Hostel in Thiruvananthapuram and Kerala House in New Delhi.
The victim, an accused in the solar-scam case, had alleged that a galaxy of Congress leaders had extorted sexual favours from her, promising State patronage for her solar venture.
The CBI's case has provenance in a damning observation by the judicial commission appointed by Mr. Chandy to probe the solar scam. The commission had 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 was equivalent to receiving illegal gratification under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
CB probe
The Pinarayi Vijayan government, which came to power in 2016, accepted the commission's recommendations and ordered a Crime Branch (CB) investigation. In January 2021, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government dropped a political bombshell by referring the case to the CBI. It issued an extraordinary notification allowing the CBI to probe an array of Congress leaders, including Mr. Chandy, on the charge of rape, financial exploitation, corruption and nepotism.
In August 2021, the CBI registered an FIR, naming Mr. Chandy, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, former Ministers Adoor Prakash and A.P. Anil Kumar, Hibi Eden, MP, K. Abdullakutty, currently a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary, as the respondents in the politically explosive case.
