Im father of victims child, says Praveen

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Praveen, the second accused in the controversial Kiliroor sex scandal case, on Wednesday admitted in a written statement to the CBI court here that he was the father of the child of deceased victim Shari S Nair, which was found earlier in a DNA test.The four accused, Praveen, Manoj, Kochumon and Prasanth denied the rape charge against them and Praveen in his statement said that no one else except him had any sexual contact with Shari.All the accused from the second to the seventh had given their additional statements written, after the witnesses statements were read out by CBI Special Judge T S P Moosad.Praveen informed the court that he was in love with Shari but their relatives were against the match for they belonged to different castes. He admitted that he had consensual sex with Shari, at three places, a lodge in  Guruvayur, houses of Shari and Omanakkutty, the first accused-turned approver, both at Kiliroor. He denied having any sexual contact with the minor girl at Kumily, Palani or Edappally.The statements by the accused tell about the close relation between Manoj and Latha Nair. Praveen was Manoj’s friend as both of them were conductors at the KSRTC. Hence Manoj and Latha Nair were accompanied by Praveen and  Shari on trips to Guruvayur.The resistance from the relatives alleviated  as Shari delivered a baby girl on August 15, 2004 and Shari’s parents and Praveen’s relatives entered into an agreement on  September 14, 2004. It stated the child was born out of consensual sex between Shari and Praveen and Praveen would marry Shari after she was discharged from the hospital. It was also stated that Praveen would deposit `5 lakh in the name of his daughter, within four months of signing the agreement. Latha Nair denied promising roles to Shari in tele-serials and cinema or that she would make her a ‘star’.In her statement, she also denied taking the victim for meeting Thomas Chandy MLA or media veteran K P Mohanan.Counsels P K Varghese and K S Arun Kumar  appeared for the second, third, fourth and sixth accused and K P Suresh for the fifth accused and C S Ajayan for the seventh accused.