Sexual assault case: Not afraid of any probe, govt decision on

Former Kerala chiefminister Oommen Chandy on Monday said the LDF government'sdecision recommending a CBI probe into sexual exploitationcases against him and four other Congress leaders would onlybackfire on it and asserted he was not afraid any inquiry.

Months ahead of assembly elections, the Pinaryi Vijayangovernment in a surprise move on Saturday sought a probe bythe central agency into cases filed on complaints of sexualexploitation by a woman prime accused in the solar scam madein 2013 against Chandy,K C Venugopal, Hibi Eden, AdoorPrakash, all MPs, and former minister and MLA A P Anil Kumar.

Besides, the case against BJP leader A P Abdulla Kutty,who was then in the Congress and booked on the same charge,would also be handed over to CBI.

The government has on Saturday issued a gazettenotification recommending CBI probe into the six casesregistered over the past few years on a July, 2013complaintby the woman accused in the multi-crore solar panelscam that she was sexually exploited by them in 2012.

''I have not done any wrong.... I am not afraid of CBIinvestigation or any other probe... and will cooperate withany probe'', 77-year-old Chandy, recently appointed by the AICCto head the 10-member election committee of the Congress forthe coming state assembly polls, told reporters here.

The decision would backfire on the ruling front as it hadfailed to ''even lift a little finger'' in the case during thepast five years, which indicated its ''pathetic failure'', hesaid.

The cases against the six, including Chandy, wereinvestigated by the Crime Branch police and the complainanthad recently written to Vijayan, seeking a CBI probe, sayingthe police investigation had limitations.

''None of us went to the court after the FIRs wereregistered. Now five years are over. They have not doneanything,Three DGPs investigated the case and nothing wasfound. Had we gone to court and a obtained stay, they wouldhave said that was the reason for the case not proceeding,''Chandy said.

The LDF government had registered cases under non-bailable offences and could have arrested them, he said.

''Our strength is we are innocent. This is our bestdefence and our confidence. The allegations are going on sinceover eight years and the government failed to take any actionagainst us'', the veteran leader said.

On the probable candidates of Congress for the polls,expected to be held in April-May, he said new faces, women andyouth would be given seats.

Winnability of a candidate was the prime criteria incandidate selection, he added.

A day after describing the LDF's decision on the case as''politically motivated'', the Congress rallied behind Chandyand other party leaders on Monday.

Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly RameshChennithala, said people were not fools.

''Do not scare us. Congress-led United Democratic Front(UDF) will face this unitedly,'' he told reporters.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said peoplewould understand the politics behind the government move.

The BJP has also slammed the decision and Union MinisterV Muraleedharan on Sunday said it had been taken in view ofthe polls.

However, CPI-M state secretary in-charge AVijayaraghavan, rejecting the charge of political motivation,has said it was only a natural course of action to ''ensurejustice to the complainant.'' The woman and her co-accused in the Solar scam, thatrocked the previous UDF government, have allegedly cheatedseveral investors of crores of rupees by offering to set upsolar panel units for them.