Kerala Industries Minister and top CPI(M) leader P. Rajeeve on Thursday denied the allegations which claimed that it was he who carried Rs 2.35 crore in a car from Kochi to the state party headquarters here two decades ago.
Rajeeve told the media that the statement that has come “has no sum or substance and it is just a figment of imagination and an utterance that has no evidence”.
G. Sakthidharan — the former associate editor of CPI(M)’s party organ ‘Deshabhimani’ — first made the allegations in June through his Facebook post, and on Thursday he revealed the names.
In his Facebook post in June, Sakthidharan without naming any CPI(M) leader but dropping enough hints that a leader many years ago counted cash to the tune of Rs 2 crore and a present cabinet minister carried it in a car from Kochi to here.
On Thursday, Sakthidharan said the leader, who stayed for two days at the office at Kochi and counted the cash, was Vijayan, and later it was handed over to Rajeeve who took it to Thiruvananthapuram.
When Sakthidharan made the claims in June, Congress Lok Sabha member Benny Behanan gave a complaint to the police who launched a probe. Sakthidharan was called in to record his statement, and the latest news is that for want of any evidence the police are closing the case.
The former top journalist was known for his closeness to CPI(M) legends like EMS, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, V.S.Achuthanandan. He quit the party organ a few years ago and started a magazine ‘Janashakthi’ . Sakthidharan has been making startling revelations about the top brass of the CPI(M), including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.