“Con woman” Saritha S Nair’s estranged husband Biju Radhakrishnan on Saturday dropped a bombshell saying former minister K B Ganesh Kumar and Union minister K C Venugopal had illicit relationships with his wife and that it was Ganesh who destroyed his family and their solar power business.
Talking to the media from an undisclosed location, Biju said he had informed Chief Minister Oommen Chandy about Ganesh’s fling with Saritha in an hour-long meeting at the Ernakulam Guest House. This meeting was facilitated by M I Shanavaz MP, he claimed.
“The Chief Minister had only tried to help me and was never part of the so-called solar scam,” he said.
Biju, however, said the CM’s personal staff, including the suspended personal assistant, had bypassed him to help Saritha out of turn.
The startling disclosures were rebutted by Ganesh and his father R Balakrishna Pillai at a joint news conference in Kottarakkara, saying the former had no links with Saritha.
Pillai said there was a concerted effort by the “forest lobby” to stall Ganesh’s re-entry into the Cabinet. Ganesh said a witch-hunt had been unleashed against him ever since he took stern action in the Nelliyampathy forest land issue. Biju said he had pleaded with Chandy to prevail upon Ganesh to end the affair and that the CM was considerate to his demand. But Saritha came to know about the meeting the very next day. He claimed Venugopal had also telephoned Saritha to inquire about the issues with Ganesh. “I was told about it by Saritha and others. I then felt there is no point in meeting the CM again as there was no transparency,” he said.
Biju, MD & CEO of Team Solar Renewable Energy Systems, has been absconding since he was accused of bilking many people out of lakhs of rupees by promising to set up solar power units and windmills. He said he would not surrender before police since he wanted to return the money collected from customers through an arbitration process in six months. Saritha is in judicial custody on the same charges.
A special investigation team has been formed to nab Biju. There will be six DySPs in the team led by ADGP (South) A Hemachandran.