In a major development in the Suryanelli case, convict Dharmarajan on Wednesday said that he had not seen senior Congress leader P J Kurien in person and retracted his earlier remarks made against the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman which he said was made under the influence of alcohol.
In an affidavit submitted before the District and Sessions Court, Thodupuzha, Dharmarajan said that the remarks made by him against Kurien were imaginary and that he had seen Kurien only on television and that he had not accompanied him to the Kumily panchayat guest house as stated earlier.
Dharmarajan said that he did not have a car of his own to take the Congress leader to Kumily nor did he travel in any other vehicle.
Dharmarajan said the recent developments pertaining to the case had shaken him due to which he had started consuming alcohol heavily.
Dharmarajan, who had gone underground after taking parole, said he knew that he was going to be arrested any time. He said that he had no resources to seek the help of a lawyer to fight his case. He said that it was at this time that a TV channel fixed up an interview with him. Dharmarajan said he was heavily intoxicated during the course of the interview to get courage. Dharmarajan also said that the charges were made against Kurien after getting a suggestion that he could escape from the tangles of the case if he made such allegations.
Meanwhile, the court adjourned the case for hearing to June 22 after the respondents prayed for more time.
The court will also take up the petition filed by Crime magazine editor T P Nandakumar to implead in the case. The District and Sessions court had taken up the case for hearing on Wednesday after it had admitted the criminal revision petition filed by the Suryanelly case victim on March 27 challenging the decision of the JFCM court, Peermedu, to reject her petition to direct the Kumily police to register a fresh case in the wake of Dharmarajan making new revelations against Kurien during his exile in Karnataka after going underground while in parole.
The court had sent notices to the State of Kerala as the first respondent, Dharmarajan as second, Jamal as third, Unnikrishnan Nair as fourth and P J Kurien as the fifth.
The victim had moved the Thodupuzha court after Dharmarajan made fresh revelations against Kurien in an interview to a Malayalam TV channel during his exile in Karnataka.
The victim had prayed before the Peermedu court to order further investigation into the matter by the Kumily police after her move to register a case against Kurien at Chingavanam police station in Kottayam was disallowed by the police.
The letters sent by her to the Superintendents of Police of Kottayam and Idukki were also rejected.
A special court in Kottayam is presently hearing the case against 35 accused after the Supreme Court had on January 31, 2013 set aside the Kerala High Court verdict acquitting 35 men of allegedly raping the 16-year-old girl at Suryanelli in Idukki in 1996.
Except Dharmarajan, the Kerala High Court had acquitted the 35 accused on January 20, 2005.