Kodakara Hawala Case: SIT suspects involvement of more BJP leaders

Thrissur: Special Investigation Team, which investigates Kodakara hawala money case suspects involvement of more Kerala BJP leaders in the issue. A notice has been sent to three BJP leaders stating that action will be taken if they do not appear before the probe team in the case.

The SIT has issued notices to BJP general secretary M Ganesh, state office secretary G Girish and Alappuzha district treasurer KG Kartha asking them to appear within two days. The police team has found that Kartha had telephoned Dharmajan, an RSS leader, whose car was rammed by another vehicle on April 3 at Kodakara, Thrissur after which the money was stolen. It was alleged that Rs 3.5 crore brought in the car was about to be used for the Assembly elections

The probe team had on Saturday telephoned the three to appear before it to gather information related to the case. They sought time to appear as they did not receive written notice. The notice was then sent. BJP Thrissur district general secretary KR Hari, treasurer Sujay Senan and BJP central secretary Kashinathan were summoned on Saturday to gather information about the case. Based on this, M Ganesh, G Girish and KG Kartha were asked to appear.

A section of the investigation team based in Alappuzha is monitoring Kartha. So far, 19 accused were arrested in the case and about Rs 1 crore was recovered.

The probe team came to know that the money came from Karnataka. However, sources says that the BJP has received legal advice that the Kerala Police has no power to trace the source of the money and that it should be investigated by central agencies. Central agencies may be entrusted with the task of conducting joint investigations with other states.

It all started when Dharmaraj and Shamjudeen lodged a complaint with the Kodakara police station, Thrissur saying that they were waylaid by a gang on the Kodakara flyover on April 3 and took away Rs 25 lakh they were carrying from Kozhikode to Kochi. The complaint was filed only on April 7. As per Dharmaraj's statement, former Yuva Morcha treasurer Sunil Naik handed over the money to him. Naik said he had only business relations with Dharmaraj.

The probe led by Rural SP G Poonkuzhali revealed that the actual amount was more than Rs 25 lakh and it was a hawala transaction. So far, hawala money amounting to Rs 50 lakh has been recovered by the police. They officials say the actual amount could be about Rs 3.5 crore.

Meanwhile, The CPIM alleged the money was meant for the BJP's assembly election campaigning, but the latter denied it.