Pages appeared in media are part of Saritha’s letter: Pillai

April 18, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:41 am IST - KOCHI:

Contradicting the claims of solar scam accused Saritha S. Nair, Kerala Congress (B) chairman R. Balakrishna Pillai has told the G. Sivarajan Judicial Inquiry Commission that the pages that appeared in the media were indeed part of her 30-page letter, which he had come to read two years back.

Mr. Pillai made the statement while deposing before the commission on Friday.

Soon after a few leaked pages raising serious allegations against some ruling MLAs and MPs made it to the media, Saritha had convened a press conference asserting that they were not part of the letter she had written while she was in jail.

However, Mr. Pillai declined to reveal the names mentioned in the letter. He said he neither took a copy of the letter nor blackmailed anyone using it when he had the letter in his possession for a few hours two years back when Saritha was still in jail. He had no doubt that the leaked pages in the media were part of that letter since he even remembered the handwriting, he told the commission.

Mr. Pillai was evasive when asked by counsels whether MP Jose K. Mani’s name was there in the letter. Stating that he doesn’t want to name any one, he said that the statement that the pages were part of the letter was self-explanatory. He, however, said that he didn’t come across the name of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s son in the letter.

Mr. Pillai claimed that in the letter, Saritha had written about being harassed mentally and physically by several Ministers and politicians whom she had approached in connection with the solar project.

Mr. Pillai further said that Saritha in the letter had written about having given over Rs.15 lakh to Thomas Kuruvilla, an alleged confidante of Mr. Chandy.

The letter had also mentioned about her giving Rs.5 lakh to an MLA in Ernakulam, he said.

Even remembers her handwriting, Pillai tells panel

Declines to reveal names mentioned in letter

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