Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed the sessions court's order acquitting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Surendran in a bribery case linked to the Manjeshwaram election.
He is accused of threatening and bribing a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate during the 2021 Kerala assembly polls from the Manjeswaram seat.
The order comes after the state government filed a revision petition in the matter, seeking to overturn Surendran's acquittal. The court of Justice K Babu also sent a notice to the BJP leader following the government plea.
The government argued that the lower court acquitted Surendran “without adequate justification as “it failed” to examine crucial evidence presented by the prosecution.
The trial court ‘misjudged’ in assessing testimonies by the witnesses and applied legal provisions in the wrong way to file charges, the government plea said further.
It claimed that the conditions for the timeline and filing of charges should not apply in bribery cases.
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The case was linked to allegations that Surendran threatened BSP candidate K. Sundara, through his supporters in the 2021 assembly elections.
Sundara was allegedly abducted and threatened to withdraw his candidature. It was also alleged that Sundara was also offered Rs 2.5 lakh to coerce him.
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