Middlemen purportedly acting on behalf of the Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had demanded a bribe of Rs 7 crore to 'see through' a solar mega power project proposed by accused Saritha Nair's firm.
Of this, Rs 1.90 crore was handed over to them in two transactions at New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram in 2012, Saritha Nair told a single judge commission inquiring into the solar scam.
It was in June 2011 that Saritha had met with the Chief Minister for the first time to seek various licenses and clearances for the solar mega power project.
The Chief Minister had promised all help in this connection and had talked this over phone with Electricity Minister Aryadan Muhammed, to whom she was directed next.
Muhammed too offered also help but the matter did not move forward for the next four to five months. When contacted, a middleman acting on behalf of the minister had demanded a bribe of Rs 2 crore.
But he would settle for Rs 1 crore, of which Rs 40 lakh was handed over in two tranches of Rs 25 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. But that was the end of it; no help was forthcoming from the minister or the government, Saritha said in her deposition made in Kochi.
RESIGNATION SOUGHT
Meanwhile, the Opposition CPI(M) has sought the resignation of the Chief Minister in the light of the 'damning' deposition made by the solar scam accused.
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, state secretary of the party, demanded that Oommen Chandy quit at the earliest owning moral responsibility of the scam.
Kummanam Rajasekharan, president of state BJP, too demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister and added that a CBI inquiry be instituted into the matter.
VM Sudheeran, president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, said he was taken aback by the sweep of the allegations and found it difficult to believe them.
Also read: Is Chandy's career on the line?
BRIBERY CHARGE
This is the first time that the Chief Minister has been brought directly into focus with a bribery charge in the still unravelling scam.
Earlier in the day, Saritha Nair said she had handed over Rs 40 lakh to Electricity Minister Aryadan Muhammed, for favours offered with respect to a policy relating to roof-top solar plants in the state.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister strongly dismissed the allegations, questioning the credentials of the accused to raise amounts in crores when a cheque for Rs 2 lakh donated by her company to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund had bounced.
CHANDY GRILLED
The persons accused to have received the bribe from Saritha Nair, including the personal staff of the Electricity Minister and others posing as middlemen for the Chief Minister, have denied the charges.
The Chief Minister had only the previous day undergone a 14-hour session before the commission in which he deposed as part of the proceedings.
This was again the first time in the state that a Chief Minister had deposed before a commission inquiring into a corruption case.