Kerala BJP in the eye of a storm over Kodakara black money heist case

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala is in the eye of a storm over the infamous Kodakara black money heist case. The scam has badly dented the image of the BJP. The ‘party with a difference’ has morphed into a party pockmarked with differences. It has well and truly plumbed the depths in the wake of the startling revelations in the case.

In a strong rebuff to BJP state chief K Surendran and his mentor and Union Minister V. Muralidharan, a three-member committee consisting of metroman E Sreedharan, former Kerala DGP Jacob Thomas and CV Ananda Bose will probe the hawala heist case and submit their report to Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Both Modi and Shah are said to be extremely unhappy over the sordid episode which has badly tarnished the BJP’s image.

To compound the BJP’s woes, a case has been registered against Surendran for allegedly bribing and coercing BSP candidate K. Sundara into withdrawing from the assembly election to Manjeswaram constituency. Action has been taken as Surendran is the apparent beneficiary of Sundara withdrawing his nomination papers.

The preliminary probe was launched after LDF candidate in Manjeswaram V V Rameshan filed a complaint against Surendran to Kasaragod district police chief P B Rajeev. The Kasaragod district crime branch has taken over the investigation into the FIR registered against Surendran. Surendran has also been accused of paying Rs 10 lakh to Janadhipathya Raksha Samithi (JRS) leader C K Janu for contesting from Sultan Bathery constituency in Wayanad district.

Trouble started when an RSS functionary and a former Yuva Morcha office-bearer, Dharmarajan, admitted to the police that the money stolen from his car, which was waylaid at Kodakara in Thrissur district, was meant for the BJP’s election campaign. Initially, the amount involved was estimated at Rs 25 lakh. But further investigation revealed that the money – it reportedly came from Karnataka – stolen was Rs 3.5 crore.

A number of district office-bearers of the BJP were questioned by the police. Among those quizzed were BJP’s state general secretary (organization) M Ganeshan and state office secretary C. G. Gireesan. The needle of suspicion points to BJP state president K. Surendran, whose son, Harikrishnan is also set to be quizzed by the police.

Harikrishnan had reportedly made several phone calls to Dharmarajan. Latest reports have it that Surendran himself may be questioned soon. Superstar Suresh Gopi is also likely to be quizzed as Dharmarajan had visited the Thrissur office of the BJP. Gopi, incidentally, was the BJP candidate from Thrissur.

There are also reports that Dharmarajan had, altogether, collected Rs 10 crore and handed over Rs 6.5 crore to the Thrissur party office. It was the remaining amount of Rs 3.5 crore which was stolen from the car, reports said. As many as 21 others have been arrested in connection with the robbery.

The controversy also brought to the surface the infighting in the party with rival BJP factions having a violent clash in Thrissur over the Kodakara episode. A BJP functionary who blamed the Thrissur district leaders in a Facebook post was suspended, allegedly through a phone call from the state party chief himself!

The rival faction in the state BJP, led by former BJP state chief P K Krishnadas, opposed to the K. Surendran-V. Muralidharan (Union Minister of State) duo have, in the meantime, raised serious complaints about the disbursal of election funds. The dissidents have demanded a thorough internal audit.

The dissidents have also alleged that a few ‘A’ class constituencies received the highest funding while others of the same category got less than half the amount. In ‘B’ category seats, candidates loyal to the official faction allegedly received five times the funds received by other candidates.

Meanwhile, Union Minister V. Muralidharan and BJP state chief K Surendran drew severe flak for their dictatorial style of functioning from their colleagues in the party’s core committee meeting. Leaders belonging to the PK Krishnadas faction accused Muralidharan, Surendran and general secretary in charge M. Ganeshan of taking crucial party decisions ignoring other senior leaders.

The Kodakara hawala heist, the allegations of Surendran paying Rs 10 lakh to Janadhipathya Raksha Samithi (JRS) leader C K Janu for contesting from the Sultan Bathery constituency and Rs 2.5 lakh to BSP candidate K Sundara to withdrawn from contesting against him in Manjeswaram figured in the discussions.

In their defence, the BJP leaders have been claiming that the case was a part of a false narrative being built by the CPI(M) and the Muslim League. But facts tell an entirely different tale.

The BJP leaders’ argument is that Dharmarajan, a Kozhikode-based businessman, was robbed at Kodakara on April 3. He had been deputed to distribute BJP’s election campaign, they added. The BJP leaders effort all along has been to make it appear as if Dharmarajan has nothing to do with the party and that the money stolen was his personal money.

Instead of retrieving the money and nabbing the robbers, the police is busy trying to link BJP leaders to the case, they contend. The police, they said, should have checked the call list of the accused. Instead, the police are examining the call list of the complainant Dharmarajan, they said.

The BJP leaders have also claimed that a CPI(M) leader and his close aides were behind the heist.

But what Dharmarajan said and did after the incident exposes the BJP leaders’ claims for what they are: a humongous sham. The first thing Dharmarajan did immediately after the robbery was to ring up half a dozen BJP leaders, among them party chief Surendran, Surendran’s son, KS Harikrishnan, BJP state secretaries A Nagesh and C Raghunath, both staunch Surendran loyalists.

If it was his personal money, the first thing Dharmarajan should have done was to complain to the police. He did not do that, He waited for four days and filed a complaint with the police only on April 7, four days after the event and a day after polling for the state Assembly election.

Also, if Dharmarajan was not a BJP man, why did the party’s Thrissur office-bearers book a room for him to stay? There are no convincing answers for these questions.

Incidentally, Dharmarajan had been booked in the past for spirit smuggling, and has a few cases pending against him. He also underwent imprisonment for 70 days. And, to the chagrin of the BJP, more and more evidence is tumbling out every day, tightening the noose.

BJP leaders are also trying to portray the Kodakara incident as a mere robbery case. It is not. The important point is: How could Dharmarajan carry a such a huge amount of money when, as per the model election conduct, you are not supposed to carry more than Ras 50,000 during election campaign? There is no satisfactory answer to that.

Possession of such huge amounts is a criminal case under the People Representation Act. BJP leaders who are busy defending the party in TV channel discussions conveniently forget this aspect of the Kodakara heist.

It is gratifying to note that the Election Commission has, at last, intervened in the matter and sought details of the sordid episode. Latest reports also have it that Surendran has been summoned to New Delhi by the party’s national leadership. He is likely to meet Union Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda.

Meanwhile, Sundara and his mother have shifted from their house to his uncle’s house. He said they shifted fearing the threat from the BJP. Vaningar, where he used to stay, is a BJP bastion whereas Shenni, where he has shifted is a Congress stronghold.

(IPA Service)