Solar scam: TV actress remanded

A day after her arrest in the backdrop of the solar scam rocking Kerala, tele actress Shalu Menon was today remanded to judicial custody by a local court after hours of questioning by investigators who gathered vital details regarding her connections with the prime accused in the scam Biju Radhakrishnan.
Shalu, a danseuse and member of the Central Film Censor Board, was produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate here, who would consider the police plea for her custody for further interrogation and evidence gathering on Monday.
Shalu was arrested from her recently-built home at Changanassery near Kottayam yesterday based on a complaint from a Thiruvananthapuram-based entrepreneur that he had been cheated of a huge amount by Shalu and Biju promising him to clinch a business deal using their high connections.

The scam, pertaining to fraudulent deals running into huge sums pushed by Saritha Nair and accomplice Biju, 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 backfoot, name of Shalu has 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 Biju escape from the state, sources said.

Biju, also wanted in connection with the death of his wife in suspicious circumstances besides being the co-accused in the solar cheating case along with Saritha, was arrested from Coimbatore a few days ago.

Opposition CPI(M)- LDF has been pressing for her arrest after it was found that several top politicians, including Home Minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan, had visited her home or the dance school she runs.
The scam also had its reflection on the factional equations in the Congress in the state as the telephone call details gathered by investigators showed that several ministers and political leaders had made calls to Saritha, apart from getting frequent calls from her.