Chandy appears as witness in court

‘Plot to topple’ previous UDF govt

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on his arrival to appear before the Kottarakara Judicial First Class Magistrate on Friday.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday appeared before the Kottarakara Judicial First Class Magistrate as a witness in connection with a case filed by former Kollam district public prosecutor Sudhir Jacob alleging that solar scam accused Saritha S. Nair and K.B. Ganesh Kumar, MLA, had conspired to topple the United Democratic Front (UDF) government headed by Mr. Chandy.

According to the petitioner, a letter written by Saritha was submitted before the solar commission after adding extra four pages containing allegations of sexual abuse by UDF leaders, including Mr. Chandy.

Saritha’s letter

The original letter, handed over by Saritha to lawyer Feni Balakrishnan at the Pathanamthitta jail where she was remanded on June 24, 2013, had only 21 pages. The same letter when submitted before the solar commission on June 6, 2016 had some extra pages added with the intention of dragging the UDF leaders into the scam and bringing down the Ministry. Mr. Ganesh Kumar, who had resigned from the Ministry, and Saritha were behind the new allegations, he said.

Speaking to the media outside the court, Mr. Chandy said he had made his statement before the court and the truth would eventually come out.

“Today he deposed before the court that Mr. Ganesh Kumar had a serious grudge against him and other UDF leaders as he could not re-enter the Ministry due to many reasons,’’ said Mr. Jacob.