The Kerala High Court on Friday sought a reply from the Enforcement Directorate on a plea asking the agency to start a probe in the controversial Kodakara money heist. The court sought ED’s reply while considering the plea filed by Loktantrik Yuva Janata Dal (youth wing of Loktantrik Janata Dal) national president Saleem Madavoor. The Kodakara money heist pertains to a highway robbery of allegedly Rs 3.5 crore, which took place at Kodakara in Thrissur on April 3. The case has turned into a political controversy in the state after alleged links to the BJP surfaced. The money was being transported allegedly for BJP ahead of the state Assembly polls.
On April 3, two days before the Kerala Assembly election, the money was looted from a man named Shamjeer Shamsudeen, while he was transporting money allegedly from Thrissur to Kochi. Though initially Shamjeer and his employer AK Dharmarajan, an RSS member for whom the former transported money, filed a complaint with the police that Rs 25 lakh was robbed from them, it soon surfaced that Shamjeer had transported upto Rs 3.5 crore. AK Dharmarajan confessed to the police that a Yuva Morcha leader named Sunil Naik handed him the money, and that it was meant to be handed over to various BJP leaders in the state. Presently, Kerala police is conducting a probe, trying to unravel more.
Considering the plea for an ED probe in the case, the Kerala High Court sought the agency’s response. While ED asked for a week’s time to provide a reply to the court, the HC directed them to give a reply within 10 days. According to reports, following the HC direction, Enforcement Directorate officials have started to study the case. ED is reportedly scrutinising the FIR registered by the police.
Meanwhile, Saleem Madavoor, who filed a plea with the HC for a probe by the Enforcement Directorate, had in April filed a complaint with the agency multiple times asking for a probe. Getting no response from the investigation agency, Saleem recently moved the HC, he told TNM.
Amid the controversies, the BJP has denied that it has any connection with the money. BJP state President K Surendran on Thursday told media that the controversies are politically motivated. He stated that Dharmarajan filed a police complaint because it did not have any connection with BJP.
However, it is amid these controversies that another allegation pertaining to the party has surfaced, alleging BJP president K Surendran gave Rs 10 lakh to CK Janu — who is part of the Janadhipathya Rashtriya Party (JRP) — for joining NDA. CK Janu was the NDA candidate from Sulthan Bathery in the Assembly polls. Read more about the controversy here.
Watch video: K Surendran's reaction on the controversy: