New Delhi: Police in Kerala registered a case against the BJP state unit’s chief K. Surendran on Monday for allegedly threatening and bribing another candidate to withdraw his nomination for the Manjeswaram assembly constituency.
The case was registered as per the directions of a magistrate court which considered a petition filed by V.V. Ramesan, the CPI(M) candidate who fought the election against Surendran in Manjeswaram, police said.
The case was filed under Sections 171 (B) and (E) (Bribery) of the Indian Penal Code, police told news agency PTI.
“No arrest should be made without a warrant,” the court observed.
Elections to the state assembly were held in Kerala on April 6.
On June 5, Sundara, who had filed his nomination as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate, had alleged that he was initially threatened and later given Rs 2.5 lakh as bribe by the BJP to withdraw from the contest.
Sundara claimed that Sunil Naik, a Yuva Morcha leader and a close aide of Surendran, had handed over the money and a smartphone to him.
The BJP is on the backfoot in Kerala due to Sundara’s allegations and two other developments. The saffron party is facing allegations of ‘hawala’ money transactions vis-a-vis the recent Kodakara highway robbery episode at Thrissur, in which the special investigation team probing the heist has questioned the BJP’s organisation secretary M. Ganeshan and party office secretary Girish. Surendran is also accused of paying Rs 10 lakh as bribe to C.K. Janu, chairperson of the Janathipathya Rashtriya Party, to join the National Democratic Alliance.
The BJP has denied the allegations.
Sundara, a Yakshagana artiste, had contested the election in 2016. He had filed his nomination once again in 2021, but withdrew.
Surendran, however, lost the election from Manjeswaram this year. IUML’s A.K.M. Ashraf won the seat with 65,758 votes, while Surendran managed to bag 65,013 votes. V.V. Ramesan got 40,639 votes.
Sundara had secured 467 votes in the 2016 election in which Surendran lost to the UDF candidate by 89 votes from Manjeswaram.
Based on Sundara’s disclosures, the Kasaragod police had conducted a preliminary inquiry. Additionally, Ramesan also filed a petition in this regard with the district police chief P.B. Rajeev.
However, the police informed the petitioner that a case could be registered only with the concurrence of the court.
(With PTI inputs)