Kochi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Kerala has raked up a case of alleged hawala money transaction involving BJP state president K Surendran. AAP state president Vinod Mathew Wilson has taken the legal route, aiming to take to task the central investigation agencies as well as the Left government in the state over the alleged mishandling of the case dating back to 2021.
Wilson has approached the Kerala High Court with a public interest litigation seeking action against individuals affiliated with the BJP for committing hawala money transactions for political purposes and use in election campaigns.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) which is probing the money laundering angle in the incident on Friday requested the court to scrap the PIL saying the investigation to find out the source of the unaccounted money was on. The ED said it has already recorded the statements of several people.
The court has posted the matter for another date. The Friday hearing coincided with the Supreme Court granting interim bail to AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who has been arrested by the ED in the Delhi excise scam relating to alleged corruption and money laundering.
When the high court took up Wilson’s plea the other day, it had told him that the court should not be a made a venue for political slugfest.
Wilson’s major contention is that neither the central agencies nor the state government acted upon the police finding that the Rs 3.5 crore robbed from a car at Kodakara in Thrissur district was brought through hawala channels from Karnataka to Kerala to use in the BJP's election campaign. BJP state chief Surendran is named as a witness in the case.
The money laundering came before the public light when the robbery was committed on April 3, 2021, on the Kodakara Highway in Thrissur district by certain unidentified persons who allegedly robbed Rs 25 lakh and a car from the complainant, who said he was carrying the amount for a land transaction in Ernakulam.
The AAP leader’s plea alleged that during the robbery investigation, the police found out that 3.5 crores of unaccounted money was robbed.
Wilson told Onmanorama that there is nothing to doubt about the timing of the PIL. He said he decided to file the plea and seek the court’s intervention since he doubted that the case had been settled.
“It’s not just a case of dacoity. There should be a detailed inquiry into the source of the robbed amount. Surendran should have been made an accused in the case as the chargesheet says the amount was brought for election purposes,” he said. He said the state government should have reported the issue to the central government promptly as hawala deals pose a threat to the economy.
