Thiruvananthapuram: In a fresh devolopment in 'hawala' funds case , a complaint was lodged alleging Rs 25 lakh brought for real estate deal was robbed by a gang. The gang attacked the car on the National Highway stretch between Ernakulam and Thrissur, near Kodakara, in Thrissur district, as per the complaint.
The incident, which happened on April 3, had gained national attention as the money was later found to be more than Rs 3.5 crore of hawala funds for the BJP.
A complaint was lodged by Shamjeer Shamsuddin, a native of Kozhikode, on April 7, the next day after Assembly polls. Police investigation's finding that it was a 'hawala' transaction triggered row.
It was found that illegal funds were brought as per the directions of the BJP Thrissur district leadership. According to the latest information from the Police, the investigation team would question BJP State president K Surendran and Rajyasabha MP and BJP candidate in the polls, Suresh Gopi.
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The Congress party has demanded a judicial probe in the case. Former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president and Congress MP K Muralidharan alleged that the hawala funds were brought from Karnataka and BJP state president Surendran had used the helicopter during the elections times as a 'strategy' to transfer the hawala funds. Further, the Congress party has already raised allegations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were aware of the illegal money transfer.
Besides losing the only seat it had (Nemom, Thiruvananthapuram) in the State Assembly, the BJP's condition in the state has worsened with the allegations. Contrastingly, the party which had declared an uncompromising fight against black money got entangled in the 'hawala' case.
The Police have arrested 13 persons in connection with the case and have seized Rs 1.5 crore so far, leading to tip-off over BJP's involvement.
The Police’s special team investigating the case had summoned and questioned BJP state office secretary, G Girish and general secretary, M Ganesh. In the interrogation, both of them had denied all hawala allegations. BJP general secretary Ganesh had told the Police team that Dharmajan, who is currently under police custody in connection with the Hawala case, is an RSS worker and only organisational matters were discussed with him.
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However, Dharmajan’s statement to the Police was that Ganesh had accompanied the vehicle transporting the money from Kozhikode. Based on Dharmajan’s statement, Thrissur district BJP president K.K. Anish Kumar was also questioned by the Police.
Meanwhile, BJP got into yet another row as Janathipathya Rashtriya Party (JRP) state treasurer Praseetha Azheekode alleged that the BJP had paid Rs 10 lakh to state president C K Janu, to woo her to take part in the election campaign at Wayanad in which Union Minister Amit Shah participated. Praseetha had also released a telephone conversation record between her and BJP President K Surendran to substantiate her allegation. However, Surendran refuted the allegations. It was being alleged that the money handed over to C K Janu is also from the Hawala funds.
Following this, the Police questioned Surendran’s driver and an associate. BJP state president K Surendran had contested at two Assembly seats in the last elections - Manjeshwaram in Kasaragod district, the constituency along the Kerala-Karnataka state border, and Konni in Pathanamthitta district in the South of Kerala. He had used a helicopter to carry out his election campaigns in both the constituencies.
It was the first time in the history of the State elections that a BJP leader contests in two seats at the same time and uses a helicopter for the poll campaigns. However, there have been serious allegations that Surendran was actually using the helicopter to carry the hawala money from the neighbouring BJP ruled state of Karnataka to various parts of Kerala by avoiding road inspections during the election times.
It is also alleged that the BJP national leadership is behind the hawala deals during election times. The video of Surendran’s associates carrying huge boxes and alighting from the helicopter has also been doing rounds on social media platforms. Even the BJP candidates who hardly had any winnability quotient were being given Rs 75 lakh black money, it is being said as per reports on social media. BJP leader V Muralidharan, the only Union Minister of the State from Kerala, has not commented on the issue so far.
The national leadership of the BJP, which had brought in the much-criticised demonetisation in the name of eradicating all black money transactions in the country, is put on the defensive now, as the prominent State leaders of the party have allegedly got involved in hawala dealings.
The BJP leaders in Kerala seem to be dumbfounded and unresponsive with the new revelations coming up in connection with the hawala deal case every day.
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