Kochi: In yet another startling revelation in solar scam, key accused Saritha S Nair has deposed before the Justice Sivarajan Commission that she had paid bribe to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's aide and also to Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed's personal assistant (PA).
She deposed before the Commission that Oommen Chandy's former personal assistant Jikkumon had demanded that the graft money to the tune of Rs seven crore for the CM must be handed over in New Delhi.
As per the instruction, she had given Rs 1.10 crore to CM's aide, Thomas Kuruvilla, in Delhi. Then also gave Rs 80 lakh to Kuruvilla in Thiruvananthapuram, Saritha deposed before the commission.
She also told the commission that she had met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for getting his approval for the solar project. Following the CM's order, she had met Minister Aryadan at his residence.
She deposed before the commission that she had given Rs 40 lakh to the Minister's staff in two instances after Aryadan demanded a bribe of Rs 2 crore. First, she gave 25 lakh to Aryadan's PA, Keshavan, and then Rs 15 lakh to the office staff.
Both Chief Minister and Aryadan have rejected the bribery allegations raised by Saritha.
Saritha said that the money was handed over to Keshavan in front of Aryadan at Manmohan Bungalow after a spate of negotiations. The plan was to establish solar project in association with ANERT.
"Jikkumon knew everything about the project. The chief minister was contacted over the phones of Jikkumon, Joppen and Salim Raj," Saritha told the commission.
Meanwhile, BJP Kerala unit president Kummanam Rajasekharan has demanded that the CBI should probe the solar scam.
Solar case should be handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation to ensure judicious enquiry of allegations.
— KummanamRajasekharan (@Kummanam) January 27, 2016
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