In a major twist to the Suryanelli case, S.S. Dharmarajan, the lone convict in the case, on Wednesday filed an affidavit before the District and Sessions Court, Thodupuzha, stating that he neither knew Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien nor had he taken him to the Kumily rest house where the alleged rape occurred.
The court posted the case to June 22 for further hearing.
Dharmarajan said in the affidavit that he was in an inebriated condition when he had made the “revelation” that he took Mr. Kurien to the rest house in his car.
Two other accused, Jamal and Unnikrishnan Nair, contested the allegation made by Dharmarajan.
The court on March 26 ordered issuance of notice to Mr. Kurien, after the Suryanelli rape victim filed a review petition for including his name in the case, seeking the reopening of the case in which the High Court had acquitted all the accused except Dharmarajan.
Dharmarajan stated in the affidavit that he had seen Mr. Kurien only on television and had not met him.
He had owned no car at the time of the occurrence of the case. He denied his earlier version that the other two accused were witness to the incident. He said that in the inebriated condition he had made the remarks as he was told that he could escape if Mr. Kurien’s name was mentioned.
In the four-page affidavit, Dharmarajan said he could not correct his earlier version as he was in jail. He said that many people had met him and enquired about his underground life after jumping the bail and about those involved in the case.
The remarks about Mr. Kurien were a fiction created by an inebriated mind, he said in the affidavit.
The court had sentenced Jamal and Unnikrishnan Nair to 13 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.20,000 in the case Mr. Kurien had not so far replied to the notice issued by the court on March 26.
