'Chandy Never Met Saritha in Delhi'

KOCHI: Thomas Kuruvilla, an aide of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in New Delhi, deposed before G Sivarajan Judicial Commission probing the solar scam on Monday. Kuruvilla submitted that Oommen Chandy never met accused Saritha S Nair in New Delhi. 

Kuruvilla, a native of Kottayam said he assisted Chandy when the latter arrived in New Delhi. He used to visit Chandy whenever he came to Delhi since 2005. Chandy did not have a mobile phone and used Kuruvilla’s phone for receiving calls. When Chandy arrived in Delhi for a meet on December 27, 2012, Saritha first contacted Kuruvilla. She wanted an appointment with  Chandy, but she could not speak to Chandy or meet him.

When the counsel for the Commission submitted that Saritha had contacted Thomas Kuruvilla  16 times on December 27, 2012, Kuruvilla replied that he forget the time when she made calls. He deposed that he met Saritha on one occasion at the lobby of a luxury hotel in New Delhi to discuss the solar business. Later, they kept in touch till Saritha was arrested.He submitted that he never met Biju Radhakrishnan. He denied LDF allegations that he had helped Biju Radhkrishnan escape after the cases in the solar scam were registered.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the Commission  submitted that Thomas Kuruvilla and Saritha S Nair contacted each other through phone calls and SMS on around 200 occasions between December 2012 and June 2013.

The counsel for the Commission produced the call details of  both during the hearing.

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