Thrissur: The probe on the Kodakara black money case has reached Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State President K Surendran's son.
Surendran's son contacted Dharmarajan several times, a police investigation revealed.
The duo met several times in Konni during the assembly election. Surendran and his son will be questioned on the matter.
Police probing the Rs 3.5-crore Kodakara black money robbery case had questioned two staff members of K Surendran in Thrissur on Saturday.
The interrogation of Surendran’s secretary Dipin and driver Libeesh indicated that the investigation is extending towards the BJP leader.
Investigators have found that the duo had made multiple phone calls to Dharmarajan during the alleged hawala deal. Dharmarajan, a Kozhikode-based RSS functionary, is the complainant in the case.
Dipin and Libeesh reportedly claimed that they had contacted Dharmarajan to check the status of the poll materials, which he had promised to arrange.
In another turn of event, he probe team appears to be gearing to question Rajya Sabha member Suresh Gopi in the case. The actor-politician was BJP’s candidate in Thrissur. The police would seek details of his campaign expenditure, and that if he got the benefit of black money.
Police have received information that some people had visited Gopi’s election committee office with money channeled in through hawala route. The actor’s poll office was located next to the BJP office.
The incident
The money was looted on April 3 at Kodakara in Thrissur district (on the Thrissur-Ernakulam Highway) just three days before the Kerala Assembly election.
The vehicle carrying Rs 3.5 crore was driven by Kozhikode resident Shamjeer Shamsuddin. When it reached Kodakara, a group of men in two cars blocked the vehicle alleging a fake traffic incident, assaulted Shamjeer and looted the money. The incident came to light when Shamjeer filed a complaint to the police that Rs 25 lakh belonging to Dharmajan, which was meant for a land deal in Ernakulam, was looted from Kodakara. Preliminary investigation by the police revealed that the actual amount was Rs 3.5 crore and the hawala money was meant for BJP's election campaign.
Police have, so far, recovered Rs 1 crore.
