Kerala: BJP leader K Surendran says he is ready to appear for Hawala allegation probe

Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader K Surendran on Saturday said that he is not afraid to appear for any probe, but he has still not decided whether or not he will appear for the Kodakara highway heist case. The case is related to the alleged hawala controversy of the Kodakara money laundering matter. 

While talking to reporters, Surendran added that he will not use any excuses of 'fake heart attack or pretend as COVID-positive to not appear for the case. 

"I got the notice to appear as a witness only on Friday. I have not decided on appearing on Tuesday and it is not legally mandatory to appear on the very same day as was sought. I can make it some other day also," he further added. 

Hinting upon chances of not appearing for the hearing, the BJP leader said that the party-state committee's meeting that he presides over is on the same day and it was scheduled much before he received the notice. Mr. Surendran was served with police notice on Friday (July 2) to appear before its team probing into the highway heist case of Kodakara in Thrissur. The BJP has refuted the claims alleging ruling CPI(M) for using its power to target the BJP. 

BJP's attack on CPI(M)

Amid reports of alleged money laundering case, Union Minister V Muraleedharan said the Left government was targeting Mr. Surendran in order to divert the attention from other cases faced by the State government. Last week, the Kerala gold smuggling case took another twist as the ED moved the Kerala High Court against the state government's move to appoint a judicial commission. Earlier this year, two FIRs were filed against unnamed ED officials for "forcing" gold smuggling scam accused Swapna Suresh to give statements against Vijayan.

Kodakara money laundering controversy

It all started just three days before the assembly elections when a man named Shamjeer Shamsudeen, who was transporting money in a vehicle that was supposedly going from Thrissur to Kochi via the Thrissur-Ernakulam highway, was allegedly attacked by a group of nine men and all the money was looted. 

The alleged misuse of the Kerala BJP funds came to light after two persons- Dharmaraj and Shamjudeen lodged a complaint with the Kodakara police station claiming that a gang had intercepted them at the Kodakara flyover and taken away the Rs 25 lakh that they were carrying from Kozhikode to Kochi on April 3. 

(With PTI inputs)