TV star jailed for two days in Kerala

By Ashraf Padanna /ThiruvananthapuramShalu Menon, the Kerala dancer, television star and a non-official member of the central board of film certification, was sent to jail yesterday for two days by a court here, a day after she was arrested by the police on charges of cheating. In the demand for custody it filed in the court, which would be taken up tomorrow, the special police team investigating the financial fraud case running into millions of rupees, said Menon was planning to marry Biju Radhakrishnan, the kingpin in the case. Menon admitted to her interrogators that she was a party to two cheating cases in which the two siphoned off more than Rs.10mn. She spent the money on her palatial house, dance school and a car. She claimed that she did not commit any crime and she received the money as a gift from her fiance. The police said she was involved in two cases of cheating, one of Rs7.1mn and the other of Rs2.96mn, both offering investment in windmills and solar energy projects, while Radhakrishnan and Saritha Nair, whose arrest on June 3 exposed the racket, executed other operations. She was produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate here. The scam has brought the office of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy under a cloud with the arrest of one of his close personal aides and removal of two others from the CMO. Ever since it broke out pushing the Chandy government on the back foot, name of Menon’s figured for her links with Biju. She had been under scanner right from the start and the investigators had come across “evidences” that pointed that she had helped Radhakrishnan, also wanted in connection with the death of his wife, escape from the state. Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has been pressing for her arrest after it was found that several top politicians, including state Home Minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan, had visited her home or the dance school she runs and she was commended as a film censor by federal minister Kodikkunnil Suresh. She was arrested in a case of cheating registered against her on a complaint of non-resident Indian businessman Raziq Ali last month that Menon and Radhakrishnan, the kingpin in the scam, had taken Rs2.5mn from him offering partnership in fictitious solar and windmill projects in Tamil Nadu. Additional Director General of Police Hemachandran and his team had earlier questioned Menon and let her go as they could not gather any incriminating lead in the allegations that she helped the fraudster to give the police a slip after his partner Saritha Nair was arrested. Menon, who initially claimed that Radhakrishnan had cheated her of Rs2mn by offering to install solar panels at her residence, had admitted to the police that Radhakrishnan travelled in her car up to Thrissur on his way into hiding in Tamil Nadu, until he was caught on June 17. He was also carrying her mobile while going underground. Radhakrishnan’s staff at Swiss Solar had told the police that she was a frequent visitor at the firm’s offices and Radhakrishnan had even introduced her as the firm’s executive director. The man even bought a luxury car for her. A few employees of the firm have been placed in custody for interrogation. Razik Ali who hails from Manacaud here told the police that he was duped a total of Rs.7mn by Radhakrishnan to invest in what he called was a German solar panel firm and a windmill farm in Tamil Nadu. Of the total amount, Rs.2mn was collected at a textile shop in Kochi and Rs500,000 at a place in the capital.