As more controversies in the Kodara money heist case surface, the latest reports suggest that the police will question BJP’s Kerala state president K Surendran’s son, Harikrishnan. Amid these reports, senior leaders of BJP, including Surendran, met the media in Kochi on June 6, and stated that the CPI(M) is carrying out ‘revenge politics’ against the party. Union Minister V Muraleedharan stated that the probe in the Kodakara money heist case was being held with prejudice against BJP and that the CPI(M) and Congress are trying to humiliate K Surendran.
The Kodakara case pertains to a highway money heist where an amount Rs 25 lakh was robbed (as per the complaint) while it was being transported from Thrissur to Kochi. The incident, which took place on April 3, became controversial after one of the complainants, Dharmarajan, who is an RSS member, said that the money was meant for the BJP. Eventually, the police also found that the amount, which was said to be stolen, could be around Rs 3.5 crore. Twenty people have been named accused in the case, and several BJP leaders in the state have been interrogated so far. While the CPI(M) said that money was meant to “purchase votes” for the 2021 Assembly election on April 6, the BJP state leadership said it had nothing to do with the party.
It is amid these controversies that it recently surfaced that K Surendran’s son Harikrishnan had allegedly contacted Dharmarajan multiple times on the day of the heist on April 3. It has also surfaced that the investigation team of the Kerala police would be soon questioning Harikrishnan. Top leaders of BJP in the state have now slammed the move, calling it an attempt to humiliate the state party president, K Surendran. “CPI(M) is carrying out revenge politics by making the police summon even the family members of the state president (K Surendran),” BJP said in a statement.
Speaking to the media, BJP leader and former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajashekaran stated that the police are not probing all angles in the case. “They are trying to target the BJP state president and humiliate him in society. The party will unitedly oppose this move by the CPI(M) and Congress,” Kummanam said.
Reacting to questions from the media, whether Harikrishnan had indeed contacted Dharmarajan as alleged, K Surendran said, “Let the police find out.”
Union Minister V Muraleedharan alleged, “It is Dharmarajan who gave a police complaint and yet the police are investigating his call records, while the call records of accused persons, who have been arrested, are not probed. Most of the arrested persons have links to CPI(M) or CPI.”
Meanwhile, the Minister also said that he is not demanding a probe by the Enforcement Directorate as that is up to the police. He also added that just because the police found more money while arresting the accused persons, how can it be proved that it belonged to Dharmarajan.
The BJP leaders met the media ahead of the BJP core committee meeting that took place in Kochi. Although the party leaders backed K Surendran (through the press meet), who has courted multiple controversies, reports suggest that there are criticisms against him within the party for dragging BJP into the controversy.
Watch video of the press meet:
Read: