Thiruvananthapuram: In the defamation case related to the solar scam, a sum of Rs 14,89,750 has been deposited as security in the sub-court by V A Arun Kumar on behalf of his father and former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan.
The sub-court had ordered Achuthanandan to pay Rs 10.10 lakh in damages, along with the interest, to former CM Oommen Chandy in the case. After VS filed an appeal to stay this, the principal sessions court directed him to either pay Rs 14.89 lakh or deposit an equivalent sum as security. Following this, Arun Kumar produced the amount.
The court concurred with the contention of Chandy’s counsel, A Santhosh, that the compensation and the interest should be deposited to grant the stay.
Arun, the IHRD additional director, produced his salary certificate and also gave an affidavit that he would pay any amount decided by the court and can be deducted from the salary if needed.
While considering the appeal filed by VS, the district court had stayed the sub-court order that directed him to pay the compensation along with a 6 per cent interest. The court ordered VS to pay the compensation for alleging that Chandy was involved in the solar scam, during a TV channel interview in 2013.