The Crime Branch wing of the Kerala police has filed a chargesheet against BJP State president in the Manjeshwaram election bribery case. According to an official source, K Surendran, facing allegations of intimidating his rival candidate in the 2021 Assembly polls for withdrawing from the contest for the Manjeshwaram seat, has been charged under provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act which are non-bailable.
The crime branch filed the chargesheet in the Kasaragod District Sessions Court on Tuesday, the source said. There are six accused in the case.
The BJP alleged conspiracy by the CPI(M)-led government in the Crime Branch chargesheet against Surendran in the case. Describing it as a false case against Surendran, senior BJP leader and Union Minister V Muraleedharan alleged that the chargesheet was filed on the day a CPI(M) leader was caught in a drug case. He said the move to hunt down the BJP State president using the crime branch would be fought legally and politically.
The police in Kerala had registered a case against Surendran in June 2021 for allegedly threatening and bribing another candidate to withdraw his nomination for the Manjeswaram Assembly constituency. The case was registered as per the directions of a Magistrate Court which considered a petition filed by V V Ramesan, the CPI(M) candidate, who fought the election against Surendran in Manjeswaram.
The case was filed under Sections 171 (B) and (E) (Bribery) of the Indian Penal Code. The case was later handed over to the Crime Branch.
BSP candidate Sundara had alleged that he was initially threatened and later given Rs 2.5 lakh as bribe by the BJP to withdraw from the contest. Sundara claimed that Sunil Naik, a Yuva Morcha leader and a close aide of Surendran, had handed over the money and a smartphone to him. The BJP had denied the allegations.
Sundara, a Yakshagana artiste, had contested the election in 2016. He had filed his nomination once again in 2021, but had withdrawn.
Surendran, however, lost the election from Manjeswaram in the polls. IUML's A K M Ashraf won the seat with 65,758 votes, while Surendran managed to bag 65,013 votes. CPI(M)'s Ramesan got 40,639 votes.