THRISSUR: Special investigation team (SIT), team probing the highway heist case, has submitted a report before Election Commission (EC) requesting an enquiry into the ‘alleged violation of election laws by BJP’ in Kerala during recent assembly polls. According to SIT’s report, illegal money to the tune Rs 41.4 crore was brought to Kerala and distributed among state BJP leaders during the recent assembly election campaign.
SIT sources said money was brought as per the directive of BJP leaders and it was disbursed on their order. SIT officers said they came to these conclusions based on the statements of witnesses like Dharmarajan, who claimed that he had sent the money that was looted, and corroborative evidence like call records. According to SIT sources, there must be a probe to find if these amounts were captured in poll expenditure data of BJP candidates.
SIT officers pointed out that Dharmarajan had filed a claim petition at Irinjalakuda court demanding that the money recovered by the police should be handed over to him as it was his money. However, he delayed submission of supportive documents to prove his claim fearing that such a step would expose the involvement of BJP leaders in the transport and distribution of money, added an SIT officer.
SIT sources said Dharmarajan, who admitted that he was an RSS man, had said that some money was distributed among local body members of BJP in Konni, where party state president K Surendran contested. The probe team requested EC to probe the charges of violation of election rules there. SIT officers said they will be probing this angle in the highway heist case too.
SIT officers submitted reports to enforcement directorate (ED) and I-T department for probe. They said ED could be in a position to identify the source of the illegal money.
SIT sources had received inputs that the money was mobilized from Karnataka. But, its efforts to pinpoint the source of money have not borne fruit. SIT tried to question some BJP leaders, including an MLC, in Karnataka, but they failed due to the non-cooperation of BJP leaders in Karnataka, sources said.
“We will focus on recovering the remaining amount and election-related offences,” said an officer.
