Chandy wins defamation case against Achuthanandan

Thiruvananthapuram: Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who came under heavy attack from the then opposition led by V.S. Achuthanandan in the solar scam, on Monday won a moral victory when a local court ordered the latter to pay Rs 10.10 lakhs in the defamation case filed by the former in 2014.

The solar scam rocked the Chandy government when in 2013 a woman Saritha Nair and her then live in partner cheated people by offering solar panels and not supplying them after collecting the money. The scam took a heavy toll on Chandy's government, when it surfaced that three of his staff members had personal contacts with Nair. With the Opposition breathing down his neck, Chandy dismissed the three of them.

The present case pertains to an interview that Achuthanandan gave to the media where he alleged that Chandy had gone to the extent of starting a new company to siphon off the scam money.

Chandy in 2014, filed the defamation case and testified before the court and on Monday the Thiruvananthapuram Sub Court said the petitioner failed to produce any evidence to substantiate his allegation and ordered him to pay a sum of Rs 10.10 lakhs.