The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has given a clean chit to the BJP in the 2021 Kodakara hawala money case.
In the charge sheet filed before the PMLA court in Kochi on Tuesday, the ED dismissed police findings that the money was brought for the BJP’s 2021 election campaign in Kerala.
The central agency informed the court that its probe was limited to tracing the source of the money.
The police investigation had earlier suggested that Rs 3.5 crore was transported to Thrissur from Karnataka for the BJP’s assembly election campaign. However, the ED dismissed these findings.
The charge sheet states that the looted money belonged to Dharmarajan and was meant for purchasing land in Alappuzha.
According to the ED, Rs 3.56 crore, which Dharmarajan had given to his driver Shamjeer for acquiring the Travancore Palace property, was stolen in Kodakara.
The police charge sheet, however, had not made any references to this land transaction and maintained that the looted money was meant for BJP’s election campaign.
The 23 individuals named as accused in the case are: Muhammad Ali, Sujeesh, Ranjith, Deepak, Areesh, Martin, Labib, Abhijith, Babu, Abdul Shahid, Muhammad Shukoor, Abdul Basheer, Abdul Salam, Rahim, Shijil, Abdul Rasheed, Rauf, Muhammad Shafi, Edwin, Deepti, Zulfikar, Rasheed, and Jinshamol.
The heist occurred on April 3, 2021, when a vehicle carrying hawala money was intercepted by assailants on NH 544 in Kodakara, Thrissur district.
The attackers looted the money from the car. Initially, the police received a complaint about a robbery of Rs 25 lakh, but further investigation revealed that Rs 3.5 crore in hawala funds had been stolen.
The money was reportedly being transported by Dharmarajan, who was alleged to have links with the RSS.