Kerala Solar Scam: Former Inquiry Officer Found Dead on Railway Track

New Delhi: K.Harikrishnan, a former investigating officer of the Kerala solar scam was found dead near a railway track at near Kayamkulam in the Alappuzha district of Kerala on Saturday. The Solar scam endangered the political career of the then Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Now it has claimed its first life.

The deceased K.Harikrishnan was a DYSP of Kerala police. Harikrishnan had arrested Saritha Nair, the prime accused in the solar scam that surfaced in 2013. It is rumoured that the evidence collected by Harikrishnan against Saritha led to the downfall of the Congress-led UDF in Kerala.

After retirement from the police force, Harikrishnan, faced vigilance cases against him when he was found to have amassed assets that were in excess of his known sources of income. So, he was in mental stress.

The Kerala solar scam was related to Saritha and her live-in partner, who sold solar panels and could collect huge sums of money from investors. Later it was found that three staff members of Chandy were close to Saritha, which was suepected to be the reason behind her rise.

The then CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan led a massive protest that went on for a few years. Though Chandy’s name was cleared of the scam, Vijayan emerged victorious in the 2016 Assembly polls and went on to become the Chief Minister.