The losing CPM candidate from Kerala’s Manjeshwar constituency has written to the Kasaragod district police chief seeking the registration of a case against state BJP president K. Surendran for allegedly bribing a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate to pull out of the fray.
V.V. Rameshan, who finished third from Manjeshwar where the Indian Union Muslim League candidate narrowly defeated Surendran, has suggested the BJP chief be booked under Indian Penal Code sections 171b (election-related bribery) and 171e (punishment for bribery).
His complaint follows Saturday’s claim by BSP nominee K. Sundara that Surendran had got him to pull out of the April 6 election in exchange for Rs 2.5 lakh, a cellphone and the promise of a wine shop.
Rameshan’s lawyer C. Shukkur told The Telegraph the CPM politician would approach a magistrate’s court on Monday to seek sanction to file an FIR against Surendran.
“Since bribery related to elections is a non-cognisable offence, the complainant has to get a sanction from the magistrate’s court. The FIR will be filed once we get the sanction,” said Shukkur.
Sundara had polled 467 votes in 2016 contesting from Manjeshwar, while Surendran had lost by just 89 votes. The BJP apparently thought that some voters had mixed up Sundara with Surendran because of the similarity between their names.
Surendran lost by 1,143 votes this time to A.K.M. Ashraf of the IUML, a constituent of the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
Sundara told reporters on Sunday that BJP workers had threatened his aged mother after his allegations of Saturday, and told her to get him to deny the family had received any money from the BJP.
He conceded “it was wrong to take money to withdraw my nomination” but added: “I have spent all the money.”
Sundara denied the BJP’s allegation that the IUML and the CPM had influenced him to accuse Surendran. “No one has influenced me; I’m saying all this on my own,” he said.
Surendran has already been accused of paying Rs 10 lakh to get the Janadhipatya Rashtriya Party, led by tribal activist C.K. Janu, to join the NDA before the election.
JRP treasurer Praseetha Azhikode has made the allegation. Surendran has denied any payoff, as has Janu who has been suspended from the party.
Adding to Surendran’s troubles, his son may now be questioned in connection with investigations into an April 3 carjack and robbery that have led to allegations of a BJP plan to use cash to influence the elections.
Police sources have said the car, carrying RSS worker Dharmarajan and a man named Shamjeer, was ferrying Rs 3.5 crore in cash although Shamjeer’s complaint says the duo possessed only Rs 25 lakh.
The BJP has denied any connection to the cash or the heist, but the police have questioned several leaders of the party in the case.
Police sources said they had unearthed call details that showed Surendran’s son K.S. Harikrishnan speaking to Dharmarajan several times around the time of the robbery. They said the police would question Harikrishnan.
The state BJP’s core committee met on Sunday to try and douse the fire and present a picture of unity although some in the party have called for a leadership change.
Senior BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekaran accused the Left Democratic Front of implicating his party in false cases. “Why aren’t the police disclosing details about the CPM workers who have been arrested?” he said at a news conference in Kochi ahead of the meeting.
The BJP claims that some of the 21 people arrested in connection with the robbery have links with the CPM and the CPI.
Surendran seemed on the defensive when asked about his son’s possible connection with Dharmarajan.
“Let the police investigate whether he called Dharmarajan. I’m already an accused in 300 cases despite doing nothing. I had expected this from this government,” he said.
