Accused's ex-counsel says sexual exploitation letter fake

Solar scam

Kochi, April 7: A letter purportedly written by solar scam accused Saritha ir which claims she was sexually exploited by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was fake, and ex-minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar was behind it, ir’s former counsel said on Thursday. “The letter that has come out (in the media) is a fake one. Former minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar and his aides are behind this,” ir’s former counsel Feny Balakrishn told reporters here after he deposed before the ongoing solar scam judicial probe commission.

“Last month, Ganesh Kumar’s staff came to me and asked me to support their efforts to bring down the Chandy government. They offered me a brand new car,” he said.

On April 3, television channel Asianet News TV released the letter written by ir, who was also present when the channel aired the news.

Appearing on the news channel, ir confirmed that she had written the 24-page letter while in police custody in 2013. She, however, said she will not discuss its contents. “I have read ir’s origil letter and it had no mention of the sexual exploitation by the chief minister. The new letter that has surfaced has additions and deletions, compared to the origil letter she wrote,” Balakrishn said. However, Balakrishn’s statement on the new letter was not accepted by the one-member probe commission, which said if it has to be included, the so-called origil letter has to be produced.

Ganesh Kumar was a member of the Chandy cabinet. His party Kerala Congress (Pillai) headed by his father R. Balakrish Pillai was an ally of the Congress-led UDF.

He, however, lost his ministership after his then wife, a medical professiol, complained of domestic violence in 2013. Last year, the father-son duo moved over to the CPI-M -led LDF. Ganesh Kumar is contesting from the Pathapuram assembly constituency for the fourth time. As soon the news surfaced in the media, former chief minister V.S. Achuthandan said there was no reason to suspect the revelation. (IANS)