Thiruvananthapuram: Kodakara money heist investigators alleged that Kerala BJP leaders received a sum of Rs 40 cr March 5 and April 5, 2021, ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections and linked it to the case. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) submitted a charge sheet to a Kerala court on July 23.
One of the prime witnesses of the case, Dharmarajan told Kerala police that the BJP state leaders assigned him to distribute the money in Kerala and that the state BJP president K Surendran was aware of the deal. Dharmarajan's call records revealed that he had been in contact with K Surendran and other BJP leaders on the day of the robbery, reported The News Minute.
The Kodakara money heist case pertains to the highway robbery in Thrissur's Kodakara four days ahead of the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections on April 6. The complaint was filed by Shamjeer Shamsudeen, who was transporting the money, and AK Dharmarajan, an RSS man who gave him the cash. The duo claimed that Rs 25 lakh was looted and it was meant for a land deal.
The Special Investigation Team's probe revealed that the cash looted was around 3.5 crore. Dharmarajan, a contract distributor of Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation, was allegedly transporting hawala money for the BJP's election work. President K Surendran on Saturday called the charge sheet to be politically motivated. He claimed that the BJP has no links with the hawala deal.
The charge sheet reveals more links between the highway robbery and hawala transactions. Dharmarajan has pointed at M Ganesh (state Coordinating Secretary of the BJP) and Gireeshan Nair (state Office Secretary of the party) as points of contact for the deal.
Several past instances of transporting hawala money for BJP have also come to light. Dharmarajan alleged that the BJP leaders had instructed him to transport Rs 12 crore from Bengaluru during the 2020 local body polls as well.