In a new twist in the solar scam, the prime accused in the case on Wednesday accused Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his cabinet colleague Arayadan Mohammad of accepting bribe, a charge both denied.

Deposing before the Justice Sivarajan Commission probing the alleged scam in Kochi, prime accused Saritha S. Nair alleged that Rs19 million had been given to Chandy’s key aide for facilitating setting up mega solar projects in the state.

She also alleged she had paid a bribe of Rs4 million to the personal assistant of Power Minister Aryadan Mohammad.

Chandy denied the charges saying it was “an attempt by Saritha to wriggle out” of the case.

“Let her state what benefit she got after bribing us,” Chandy told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. The cheques Saritha had handed over for relief fund had also bounced, he said.

“I have not helped her in any way. The Commission will come out with all the truth. Saritha was given a lot of opportunities to tell her version,” Chandy who had deposed before the commission for a marathon 14 hours in Thiruvananthapuram on January 25, said.

Saritha alleged that Chandy’s former personal assistant Jikkumon, who had sought Rs70 million as bribe, had insisted that the money meant for Chandy be handed over to one Thomas Kuruvilla in Delhi. Kuruvilla was claimed to be Chandy’s unofficial aide.

“I handed over Rs11 million to Kuruvilla at the parking ground of a shopping mall in Chandni Chowk,” she told the Commission, two days after Chandy deposed before it.

Saritha said she had met the chief minister on December 27, 2012, at Vigyan Bhawan when he was about to leave for the airport after attending a meeting of the National Development Council.

It was Kuruvilla who facilitated the meeting with the chief minister outside Vigyan Bhawan, Saritha claimed.

“He (the chief minister) asked me how are things? I told him money is with me. He told me to contact Kuruvilla and said he did not wait for the (NDC) meeting to conclude and was leaving for airport a bit early to catch the flight (to Kerala),” Saritha told the Commission.

Saritha said before leaving for the airport to see off the chief minister, Kuruvilla had told her to wait for him at the car parking of the shopping mall at Chandni Chowk.

“Kuruvilla came to the car parking two hours after seeing off the chief minister. I had reached the mall in a car with Dheeraj. I sat with Kuruvilla in the car. I handed over Rs11 million to Kuruvilla. He invited me for tea when we came out of the parking ground. We had tea together,” she told the Commission.

Saritha also alleged Kuruvilla took Rs8 million from her house in Idappazhanji in Thiruvananthapuram. “It was about 12 to 14 days before my arrest,” she said.

Saritha said it was Chandy who told her to meet Aryadan Mohammad to start solar project in cooperation with ANERT.

She alleged that after hard bargaining with the Minister at his Manmohan Bungalow in Thiruvananthapuram, his personal assistant took Rs2.5 million from her.

An amount of Rs1.5 million was given to his personal assistant during a conference on electricity at a hall in Kottayam, she alleged.

Chandy said Keralites will not believe the allegations. “Will anyone believe Saritha had given crores?’, he asked.

On his deposition before the Commission, Chandy said the panel was constituted by the UDF government to bring out the truth. “It was my duty as chief minister to appear before the Commision. That was a citizen’s duty. I did not say I am chief minister and did not have time to appear before the Commission.

“I had told the Commission that I was prepared to depose without any time limit,” Chandy said, adding, the state had not suffered any loss due to the scam.

Denying the allegations levelled against him by Saritha, Aryadan Mohammad said “the charges are baseless.”

The fraudulent company — Team Solar floated by the two accused — Saritha S Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan, had collected huge amounts from various persons promising to provide solar solutions.

Meanwhile, KPCC President V M Sudheeran said Saritha’s allegations are ‘totally unbelievable’ and her revelations can only be seen as ‘Election Special’.

“Elections are round the corner and during elections such allegations will be levelled. The allegations will not have any negative impact on Congress or UDF,” he told reporters.

• [Editor:tianyawei]