Fenny Balakrishnan, counsel of solar panel scam accused Saritha S Nair, on Saturday said revelations in her personal statement made before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) were very crucial.
He said she had also mentioned about some well-known public figures in the statement.
“Since the court has ordered not to disclose the statement, we are bound by the court order. The court has told us to give the written statement in two days. Saritha’s statement would be very crucial in the case. This would change the direction of the case. She has named some well-known people to the magistrate. The statement would be submitted as a complaint to the court,” Fenny said.
Earlier on being brought to the court in the morning, Saritha had sought permission to speak to her advocate, which was allowed.
After speaking to her counsel, she asked permission to speak in private to the magistrate. N V Raju, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences), told her to inform the court through her advocate.
But, Saritha submitted that she had to share some confidential matter regarding the case. The court then decided to take her statement. When her statement was taken, the court room was closed from inside and only counsel Fenny Balakrishnan, two officials of the court and a vanitha policewoman were present.
Some officials in the Special Investigation Team probing the case suspect that it was pre-planned that Saritha would give a statement to the magistrate.
“Usually when an accused is produced before the court on completion of police custody, very few mediapersons would be present. But on Saturday, over three reporters from each media organisations were present at the court. We suspect that reporters had information that Saritha would give a statement before the magistrate and disclose some important names,” a police official said.