BJP chief among witnesses in black money heist

THRISSUR: Kerala unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in a tight spot following the submission of charge sheet in the Kodakara black money heist.

The 625-page charge sheet submited by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has named BJP state president K Surendran as the 7th witness.

The charge sheet listed 22 accused and 219 witnesses including the Surendran’s son.

According to the charge sheet, the money was brought from Bengaluru for election purposes and BJP state president Surendran was fully aware of transporting the money to Kerala.

The charge sheet also hinted that Dharmarajan, who brought the money, has close links with Surendran and BJP state organisation secretary M Ganeshan.

BJP state commitee secretary and office secretary had entrusted Dharmarajan, who has been named as the second witness in the case, to bring money from Karnataka. Harikrishnan, son of K Surendran has also been named as a witness in the case.

Dharmarajan contacted Surendran and his son Harikrishnan soon ater the highway robbery. The charge sheet noted that Dharmarajan contacted many other BJP leaders too.

The SIT has alleged that the money was brought for the BJP during the elections and recommended a probe by the central agencies including Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax and the Election Commission to trace the source of looted money.

The investigation team will also hand over a copy of the charge sheet to the central agencies.

The charge sheet also revealed that BJP brought money not only for legislative assembly elections but crores of rupees were also pumped in to the state during local body elections too.

The charge sheet also mentions that BJP, through Dharmarajan, has brought around Rs12 crore to Kerala, just for the local body elections. The money was brought thrice in sacks.

The charge sheet states Rs6.3 crore was brought to Thrissur BJP office on the same day when the robbery occurred in Kodakara.