In a huge relief to BJP Kerala President K Surendran, the Kasaragod Sessions Court on Saturday discharged him in the Manjeswaram election bribery case. Along with him, five other BJP leaders were also cleared of the charges
The court accepted the discharge plea of Surendran and five other accused as it found no ground to proceed against them.The order from the court came in a discharge petition filed by Surendran and five other accused persons in September 2023, claiming that the case was fabricated with a political motive. All the accused, including Surendran, were in the court on Saturday.
The case against Surendran was that during the 2021 Assembly election, he offered Rs 2.5 lakh and a smart phone to BSP candidate Sundara to persuade him to withdraw his candidacy.
The first accused in the case was K Surendran, the BJP state president. K.Manikandan Rai and Suresh Y were the second and third accused, respectively.
The fourth accused was Sunil Naik, the former state treasurer of the Yuva Morcha . The fifth and sixth accused were K. Balakrishna Shetty, the former BJP Kasargod district president, and Lokesh Noda.
Surendran was the BJP candidate in Manjeswaram and Konni during the 2021 assembly elections. He was defeated in both the constituencies
Sundara, who is from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, received 467 votes as an Independent candidate in the 2016 assembly election, where Surendran, representing the BJP, lost by a narrow margin of just 89 votes.
The bribery complaint against K Surendran and five others was filed by V V Ramesan, the LDF candidate from Manjeswaram in the same election.
The case filed by the Badiadka police was subsequently investigated by a special team led by District Crime Branch DySP A. Satish Kumar, with the charge sheet later submitted to the court.
Coming out from the court.Surendran, told the media that the case was a fabricated one in which the CPI-M, the Congress, the Indian Union Muslim League, and a section of the media conspired against him.
“Right from day one, I have been telling you that this is a fabricated case based on a conspiracy. They wanted to ensure that I was banned from contesting elections. Incidentally, the case was filed by Rameshan and it was much later that Sundara joined in the case. We were confident of this day as we knew we had done no wrong at all,” Surendran said.
Responding to the court order, V V Ramesan, who filed complaint against Surendran and others, said he will definitely file an appeal petition against the sessions court verdict.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader VD Satheesan sneered that the plaintiff and the accused were the same group in the Manjeswaram election bribery case. Alleging that the government did not raise necessary arguments in the case, Satheesan said that CPIM-BJP nexus is reflected in the case.