CBI questions Cong MP Hibi Eden in alleged sexual abuse case filed by Solar scam accused

Kochi, May 13

A team of CBI officials on Friday questioned Congress MP from Ernakulam Hibi Eden, in a sexual abuse allegation filed by the solar scam accused.

Last month, the CBI team along with the complainant -- who is the prime accused in the infamous solar scam -- arrived at the high security Kerala Legislative quarters to collect evidence provided by the accused, who had made sexual abuse allegations against the then Congress legislator and present Ernakulam Lok Sabha member Hibi Eden.

The CBI team on that day arrived with the 'victim' and went around the Flat 34 at the Legislative quarters as according to the complainant, she was sexually abused by Eden here which was his flat when he was a legislator in 2013.

In August last year, the CBI registered cases against two-time former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal and Congress Lok Sabha members -- Hibi Eden, Adoor Prakash, Congress legislator A.P. Anilkumar and BJP national vice president A.P. Abdulla Kutty.

The cases were registered on a complaint filed by Solar scam accused saying that she was sexually exploited by these leaders.

She had raised a complaint with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who handed it over to the CBI, just before the April 2021 assembly elections.

She made the complaint after her displeasure with the Kerala Police probe which after several years failed to come to any conclusion.

The CBI has filed three cases at the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court, here and one case at the CJM Kochi court.

According to her complaint, she was sexually harassed by Chandy (when he was the Chief Minister) at his official residence- Cliff House Aon August 19, 2012.

However, the Kerala Police probe had earlier found out that there was nothing to prove that and Chandy all along have said he has done no wrong and does not fear anything and will fully cooperate with the probe.

Incidentally, a team of CBI officials on May 3, arrived at the official residence of Chief Minister as part of the investigation in the case against Chandy.

At that time, the present resident Pinarayi Vijayan was away in the US undergoing medical treatment.

Eden has always maintained that this was a politically motivated case.

Incidentally, the 'victim' was the reason that mainly led to the bringing down of the Oommen Chandy government as scams involving her and a few members of the Chandy's office got exposed, which the Left used widely in their election campaign in 2016.

She and her then live-in partner went around selling solar schemes and collected money from several people and cheated them. Her links with a few office staff of Chandy surfaced which became the biggest campaign issue for the Left.

This was one reason why the Congress-led UDF government, which was aiming for a second term in 2016, suffered a rout.