New Delhi: A court in Wayanad has directed Kerala police to register an FIR against Kerala’s Bharatiya Janata Party president K. Surendran and Janadhipathya Rashtriya Sabha leader C.K. Janu on bribery and other charges.
Surendran had allegedly bribed Janu Rs 10 lakh to withdraw her nomination on an JRS ticket for the assembly election, held in April in Kerala.
Indian Express has reported that the Wayanad first class magistrate’s court was hearing a petition filed by P.K. Navas, Kerala president of the Muslim Students’ Federation, the student wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
Navas had reportedly approached the Kerala police chief asking for an FIR to be registered but moved court citing that no action had been taken.
Janu returned to the National Democratic Alliance fold and contested from the a Wayanad constituency, eventually coming third after the UDF and LDF candidates. The allegations of bribery was made by JRS state treasurer Praseeda Azhikode.
Janu had been estranged from the NDA after the 2014 general elections. “According to a purported leaked telephone conversation between Surendran and Praseeda, Janu had demanded Rs 10 crore but settled for 1% of the amount,” Rajeev Ramachandran wrote in an analysis for
The court has specified that a case be registered under sections 171 B (gratification to any person with the object of inducing him or any other person to exercise any electoral right), 171 E (bribery) and 171 F (undue influence or personation at an election) of the Indian Penal Code, according to the Express report.
This “bribery” incident came in the spotlight after a highway hawala heist on April 3, at Thrissur, caught the attention of the police and the media, catching the state BJP leadership on the wrong foot.
The special investigation team probing the heist has questioned the BJP’s organisation secretary M. Ganeshan and party office secretary Girish.
As The Wire has reported, Kerala Police, upon directions of a magistrate court, recently registered a case against Surendran allegedly threatening and bribing another candidate to withdraw his nomination for the Manjeswaram assembly constituency. This petition had been filed by V.V. Ramesan, the CPI(M) candidate who fought the election against Surendran in Manjeswaram.
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.