Kerala chief whip tried to use me for political moves, alleges Saritha Nair

The corridors of the Chief Minister's office in Thiruvanan-thapuram are abuzz withrumours of a 22-page state-ment Saritha S. Nair hasgiven her lawyer which details her dealings with politicians and bureaucrats as director of the now defunct Team Solar Renewable Energy Solutions Private Limited. It also names several powerful people who allegedly abused her, among them a Union minister, at least four state ministers, MLAs, and several bureaucrats. The solar scam came to light in March 2013 when a Perumbavoor businessman, K.M. Sajjad, complained to the police that he was duped by Team Solar, run by Biju Radhakrishnan and his partner Saritha, of Rs 45 lakh.

Saritha S Nair being produced at a court in Kerala

They had promised to set up a solar power plant and a windmill farm but didn't do so. His complaint was followed by 48 others. Jailed in June last year for perpetrating the scam jointly with Biju, Saritha has been on bail since February 21 in all the 49 scam-related cases. Since then she has been hitting headlines with a frequency that is sending shivers down the spine of several powerful men across the political spectrum. On March 3, she fired her latest and most damaging salvo when she accused Congress MLA from Kannur, A.P. Abdullakutty, of raping her in a Thiruvananthapuram hotel, where she was summoned to discuss business. Abdullakutty has denied the allegation. "I could not sleep for months. Now, let these leaders lose some sleep," Saritha said on March 3 in Thiruvananthapuram, threatening to expose more leaders who had "used" her. Her estranged partner Biju is now lodged in jail in a separate case, convicted for murdering his wife Reshmi in 2006.

In her first exclusive interview to India Today, Saritha lets loose a barrage of accusations. She alleges that Chief Whip of Kerala Assembly, P.C. George, is responsible for her plight. "He wanted to use me for his political moves. When I refused, he threatened to send me to jail," she says, adding, ominously for George, that the time is not ripe to reveal more. George vehemently denies the charge. "I went to Attakulangara jail (in Thiruvananthapuram) on September 25, 2013 to meet some people arrested in connection with a strike. I didn't try to meet Saritha. I never tried to use her for any political benefit," he says.

In a more damning claim, Saritha says she was approached by CPI(M) to drag the Chief Minister into the scam, a charge its state Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan refuses to react to. She says they offered her "Rs 10 crore and a house. There were offers to my lawyer too". Despite spending nine months in jail and considerable time in courtrooms, Saritha seems remarkably composed, even discussing the striking saris she wears. "I started wearing saris when I was 18. My saris are not as expensive as the court thought. I have just 75 saris and none costs more than Rs 3,000." The Kerala High Court had criticised the government for allowing her to have more than two saris in jail and asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to confiscate them with reports emerging that she spent Rs 13 lakh on her array of saris.

A networker who assiduously cultivated high-profile "contacts", Saritha was born in Chengannur. She refused a job in an international airline company because her traditional family objected to the dress code, she says. She became friends with Biju when both worked in a financial company in Kozhencherry.

When he started his own company, she joined as its marketing manager. Team Solar began in 2011 and trouble erupted a year later when Saritha and Biju decided to part ways. In September 2012, Biju told a TV channel that he had held a meeting with Chandy in an Ernakulam guesthouse to sort out a "family issue". Chandy is yet to reveal what transpired in that closed-door meeting. Biju also said that Saritha was involved in a relationship with then state forest minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar. The minister was later ousted from the Cabinet following a complaint of torture by his wife Yamini Thankachi, who said he also had several adulterous relationships. Though Ganesh Kumar was the first hit, the real casualty was when a call list under examination by SIT leaked to the media exposed links between Saritha and the Chief Minister's personal staff. His staff officers Teny Joppan and Jikkumon Jacob were fired as was Chandy's former gunman Salim Raj.

According to the police, Biju and Saritha had a simple modus operandi. Promise prospective customers solar panels or shares in solar farm projects to be started with government support.

Impress them by inviting ministers- such as K.C. Joseph, Kerala's minister for cultural affairs, and K.B. Ganesh Kumar-to their functions to show proximity to power. One petitioner, Sreedharan Nair of Pathanamthitta, who was allegedly defrauded of Rs 40 lakh, even alleged that he met Chandy in his office along with Saritha. During the meeting, he said, the Chief Minister encouraged him to invest in the renewable energy sector. Chandy has rejected his claims and says he did know Saritha, but as Lakshmi Nair.

Accusing Chandy of involvement, the CPI(M) has levered the solar scam into an election issue, while a police team headed by ADGP A. Hemachandran is looking into the Rs 10-crore scandal. The uproar had forced the government to set up a judicial commission headed by Justice Sivarajan, a retired high court judge, to probe it. For so long seen as a smart businesswoman who hobnobbed with the establishment in her state, Saritha is now painting herself as a victim who had to deal with all sorts of people for the survival of her company. Calling herself a small net that can trap big fish, she says "nobody can lie to everybody forever".

Whether the solar scam goes on to eclipse political careers or not, it is a classic case of how closeness to authority can turn into money-making opportunities for the unscrupulous.

Followthe writer on Twitter @JBinduraj1

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