'Don't have any party's backing,' Saritha stands firm on charges

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after she raised startling allegations against Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, solar scam accused Saritha S Nair denied being part of any political conspiracy to dethrone the UDF government.

"No party is backing me, CPM had even offered me Rs 10 crore. But that has nothing to do with the latest revelations," she said, adding that she stands firm on her allegations.

She also denied having any links to the bar owners in state.

She was talking to reporters ahead of her sitting with the solar scam probe panel for the second consecutive day on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Saritha had deposed before the commission that she had paid bribe to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's aide and also to Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed's personal assistant.

Also read: Saritha comes out with startling allegations in solar case

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.

Following the allegations, Opposition had demanded resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.