Kochi: Former chief minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday appeared before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court and deposed in the defamation case filed by him against solar scam-accused Saritha S. Nair. Chief Judicial Magistrate S. Aji Kumar took the statement of Mr Chandy and adjourned the case for one month. Mr Chandy spent 20 minutes at the court deposing against Saritha.
Former minister K. Babu, Hibi Eden MLA and former mayor Tony Chammany accompanied him to the court. He had filed a defamation case against two news channels and Saritha for broadcasting a 'fake' letter alleging that Mr Chandy had sex with her at his official residence.
The channels and Saritha were trying to antagonise the complainant and trying to project him before the general public as an unworthy individual, he argued. Such acts of the accused amount to the offence of defamation.
“On April 3, Saritha and others released a truncated letter stating that she was raped by the complainant in his official residence, Cliff House, Thiruvananthapuram. Common sense fails to comprehend as to how such an incident can occur in the Cliff House, where the complainant is residing with his family and several security guards,” he said.
