KOLLAM: The Solar scam which had singed the-then UDF Government has bounced back into public focus now, with former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy saying the key accused in the case Saritha S Nair and K B Ganesh Kumar MLA had conspired to level allegations of sexual misconduct against him and other UDF leaders. Chandy alleged the original letter written by Saritha had only 21 pages and not 25 as claimed.
Chandy was giving a statement before Kottarakkara JFMC M Rajappan Nair to contend the charge he had been named in Saritha’s original letter. Chandy said his name and those of other UDF leaders were added to the original letter as a result of the conspiracy. “We could not reinduct Ganesh Kumar into the Cabinet due to several reasons. He harboured enmity towards me as I was the Chief Minister and other UDF leaders for this,” he said.
The-then government had formed a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the charges against Team Solar in the scam’s wake and criminal cases were registered against Sarita and Biju Radhakrishnan, the company’s owners.
The letter was later submitted before the Justice Sivarajan-headed Solar Commission which probed the charges. Chandy said the High Court expunged the Solar Commission’s findings against him based on the letter. He contended in his petition the commission had erroneously relied on the letter and made it a part of the report without examining its authenticity.
The case pertains to a letter handed over by Saritha to her then counsel Feni Balakrishnan at the Pathanamthitta jail on June 24, 2013.The petition filed by former Kollam district public prosecutor Sudhir Jacob alleged the original letter did not have any allegations of sexual misconduct against Chandy.
He said the letter ran into only 21 pages as per the jail records and four more pages were added later with the intention of dragging Chandy’s name in the scam.
Saritha hits back
T’Puram: Solar scam prime accused Saritha S Nair took strong objection to former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s argument in the Kottarakkara Court that three pages were later added to her letter by Ganesh Kumar for political reasons. “The allegation was not raised before the Solar Commission which probed the case. It is being levelled now to clean Chandy’s image. The letter I wrote while in police custody had 30 sheets, which was later recovered by the probe commission,” Saritha said.