A court in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday ordered former chief minister and CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan to pay ₹10.10 lakh to Oommen Chandy, former CM and senior Congress leader, in a defamation suit filed in connection with the solar scam case.
In an interview to a news channel in July 2013, Achuthanandan, then the opposition leader, alleged that CM Chandy was behind the fictitious solar firm and that he knew about the cheating case. He also alleged that Chandy had accepted a portion of the commission from the main accused, Saritha S Nair, for the help given to her.
Chandy filed a defamation suit in 2014, saying that the grave charges invited embarrassment to him and sullied his image. He first sought damages of ₹1 crore but later reduced it to ₹10.10 lakh.
