Thrissur: The police team, probing the Kodakara highway robbery case, has received information that around Rs 9.5 crore was brought for three districts. And the Rs 3.5 crore robbed in Kodakara was the amount left after spending money in these districts.
The police said that a large portion of this amount was intended for the Konni constituency from where BJP state president K Surendran contested in the April 6 Assembly polls. But the police have not received any documents to prove that the money belongs to the BJP.
Investigation into the source of the money comes under the purview of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Petitions have been filed in the court for this. Although the ED has received complaints along with the details of the case, the investigation has not been started.
The police are trying to gather maximum evidence related to money-laundering and submit report to the ED. The probe team has arrested 21 accused in the hawala money robbery and recovered Rs 1.25 crore.
The police had earlier revealed that the money was sent from Karnataka and Yuva Morcha former state treasurer Sunil Naik had intervened in this. BJP Kerala general secretary (organisation) M Ganesan and office secretary Gireesh were also questioned as they had continuously phoned RSS member Dharmarajan, who was carrying the money, on the day of the incident and the day prior to that.
Subsequently, BJP's Thrissur district office-bearers booking a room in the district for Dharmarajan and his group came under investigation. After it was confirmed that Surendran's secretary and driver had contacted Dharmarajan, the probe was extended to the BJP state chief also. During further probe, the police found that phone calls were also made from the phone of Surendran's son to Dharmarajan.
Will not seek ED probe: Muraleedharan
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan has said that he would not seek an ED probe into the Kodakara hawala money case.
"There are special procedures for it. The state government and the police have to seek the probe," he said in a reply to a query in this regard.
"The police have to probe how the money reached Dharmarajan," he added.
