Solar case: Defamation charges against VS

Saritha S Nair, the prime accused in solar fraud case, will file a complaint against three persons, including Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V S Achuthanandan, on charges of defamation.

Saritha’s counsel Feny Balakrishnan said on Saturday that a complaint will be filed at the Ernakulam North police station against Achuthanandan, Jacob Mathew the advocate representing Biju Radhakrishnan (the other main accused in the case), and BJP leader K Surendran.

The defamation charge follows a statement by Jacob Mathew that he was in possession of video footage that had Saritha in a compromising position with ministers and senior police officials.

The advocate has repeated the statement in television interviews and said that with written consent from his client Biju Radhakrishnan – who was also Saritha’s partner – he would release the video footage that was allegedly recorded by Saritha.

The names of minister of state for civil aviation K C Venugopal, state minister for tourism A P Anil Kumar and former minister K B Ganesh Kumar were mentioned as leaders in the alleged footage, leading to denials and fresh opposition fire targeted at the Congress-led government. Achuthanandan and BJP state general secretary Surendran made public statements in connection with the footage.

Meanwhile, Achuthanandan had a characteristically defiant take on the complaint as he said Saritha didn’t have the standing to feel offended at his statements. “My intention was not to offend or insult anyone… I had made the statements only to expose the ministers and the efforts made by the government under Oommen Chandy to hush up the issue,” the CPIM veteran told reporters.

Saritha’s counsel received his client’s formal complaint in this connection at the Attakulangara women’s prison in Thiruvananthapuram, where she’s lodged, on Saturday. Saritha had earlier denied the existence of any video footage as alleged by Mathew while Venugopal and Anil Kumar have also challenged the advocate to release the footage.